Developing Social Capital Through School-Based Collaborations: A Mixed-Methods Social Network Analysis

Collaboration has become an important way for organizations to leverage human resources to create shared organizational goals. Schools, as organizations, thrive on positive collegial partnerships among educators, with effective educator collaborations linked to improved school effectiveness and student outcomes. However, not all collaborations are successful. The current study draws heavily from Coleman’s (1988) social capital framework to understand with whom educators choose to interact and how patterns of interaction facilitate educators’ social capital development. Using an equal status, sequential mixed methods design, K–12 educators’ interview and survey data were iteratively analyzed to explore how educators describe their school-based collaborations, how collaborations reveal distinct social network structures, and how school-based collaborations and network structures lead to educators’ social capital. Findings illuminated four distinct profiles of collaboration that emerged as educators described their school-based collaboration, which were linked to different social network structures and qualities of social capital. These results can be used to inform professional development practices for school administrators and human resources teams through consideration of profiles that may inform responsive school-based collaborations. We discuss additional implications for educator hiring and retention as well as policy around PK–12 teacher standards.