Lost at "C"apital: A Social Capital Perspective on Urban High School Leadership

• In Event: Culturally Relevant Strategies: Implications for School Leaders

Abstract

Efforts to reform and improve public education systems have become ubiquitous. Many of these efforts to enact change are aimed at individual educators and building “human capital” to improve student outcomes, and they have been well documented. However, social networks between school and district leadership have not been as comprehensively explored—especially regarding change and improvement efforts. In this longitudinal study, we utilize social network theory and analysis to bridge this gap by examining the networks of urban high school leadership during a period of reform—the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Results indicate that over time high school principals have decreasing access to social capital and are typically occupying peripheral positions in the social network.

Authors

• Yi-Hwa Liou, National Taipei University of Education

• Pete Bjorklund, University of California - San Diego

• Alan J. Daly, University of California - San Diego