Using Social Network Analysis to Evaluate and Improve Teacher Collaboration: A District Case Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Learning Communities for School Improvement

Abstract

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a social science research method that generates mathematical and visual insights into how relationships between individuals and groups influence communication and facilitation of information within an organization. School leaders can use SNA to operationalize teacher collaboration and scale the diffusion of instructional innovation throughout a school. In this paper presentation, we report how SNA has been used in the systematic development of teacher collaboration in one suburban school district in the northeast. Session participants will learn how school administrators created SNA maps of formal and informal teacher networks and used the data to re-structure teacher teams in ways that build district capacity for instructional improvement and increases in student achievement over time.

Authors

• Rebecca H. Woodland, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Shannon Barry, University of Massachusetts - Amherst