Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2006
Abstract
This study bridges literature and methods in several fields including public finance, social science and public administration. Survey and archival data were utilized to examine social capital of school board members in 170 Pennsylvania school districts. Specifically this study examined the impact of board member internal and external social capital on two organizational outcomes--community support for school spending and student performance. In addition to measuring external social capital leveraged in the board members' official capacity, an additional dimension was measured to capture the transferability of social capital through board member relationships in the community outside of their role as public school officials. Other constructs were included in the model, including community tax burden for school spending, community economic capital, and parent participation. The study results indicate that board member networking - in its current form and relatively low levels - may have little influence on community support for school spending relative to economic wealth of the community. It also suggests that it is more important for board members to spend their time on activities such as internal accountability as opposed to bridging relationships within or outside of the school district if student performance is to be improved.
Keywords
social capital (sociology), educational sociology--United States
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Moore, Suzanne K., "Leveraging Social Capital as Public Policy Resource in Pennsylvania School Districts" (2006). Student Scholarship. 287.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/287