Impact of Comprehensive School Reform on Social Capital and Pedagogical Change

Abstract

We evaluated the role that social capital among teachers plays in affecting teacher pedagogy in the context of comprehensive school reform (CSR). CSR implementation was designed to change school- and classroom-level processes, including organization and governance, curriculum and instruction, professional development (PD), and parental involvement. CSR implementation may encourage daily collaboration among teachers and thereby increase what sociologists refer to as "social capital" or resources stemming from social relations. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we examined the extent to which CSR helps teachers accumulate social capital and whether social capital mediates the influence of CSR on teachers' pedagogy. Our results underscore the importance of considering social capital in studies of CSR.