An Analysis of Teaching Support Provided on K-12 School District Websites in the Early Outbreak of COVID-19 Using Professional Capital Model

• In Event: Leadership Strategies to Support Improved Instruction

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to explore how school districts respond to the early outbreak of COVID-19 from a lens of professional capital theory. This research selects 13 school districts with a high accountability rating in a midwestern state, and analyzed the publicly available information about how teaching is supported on school districts’ websites using thematic analysis. The results show that each school district deploys professional capital, human capital, social capital, and decisional capital to sustain teaching and learning. School district raise teachers’ human capital by engaging teachers in professional learning communities to identify and exchange instructional practices in their school contexts. Moreover, schools cultivate collaborative culture to promote social capital in dealing with crises. Schools also use decisional capital and include stakeholders’ expertise. This paper offers unique insights regarding how school districts utilize professional capital to maintain educational quality during the pandemic.

Authors

• Yuchieh Wu, University of Hawaii at Manoa

• Yi-jung Wu, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Grace Leung, University of Wisconsin-Madison