Supporting the Bridge: Rural leaders' influences on systems to promote teacher professional capital growth
Open Access
- Author:
- Voigt, Susan
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Leadership
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 28, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Bernard Badiali, Member Added & Related Areas Represent
Deborah Schussler, Member Added & Major Field Represnt
Kai Schafft, Chair & Major Field Represnt
Edward Fuller, Member Added & Major Field Represnt
Kevin Kinser, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- educational leadership
rural education
educational administration
professional capital - Abstract:
- Over the past several decades, educational policies and legislation have used teacher certifications and student achievement outcomes as proxy measures for levels of teacher human capital. However, other factors influence teacher effectiveness. Using Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) theory of professional capital, this mixed methods study sought to determine the factors identified by a group of rural teachers influencing their professional capacity and administrators’ understanding of their roles in supporting their teachers’ professional capacity. The study yielded three primary findings. First, when administrators disregard the levels of human, social, and decisional capital each teacher brings to their school, they risk damaging trusting relationships. Second, when administrators value the levels of human, social, and decisional capital each teacher brings to their school, they give teachers a sense of ownership in the school. Finally, administrators serve as organizational brokers of social capital within and beyond individual schools. This dissertation also includes a section describing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on these teachers’ human, social, and decisional capital and potential implications of the results in the context of a post-pandemic educational landscape.