- 2015-03-09 (x)
- Moore, Suzanne K. (x)
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Show moreThis 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.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreResearch on community engagement and collaboration with public institutions has not rigorously studied the sources of social capital at the micro level. By studying local school board experiences in engaging the community, I will advance the knowledge in this area. Local school boards have a distinct role in the leadership of public schools. Although practitioner oriented research has revealed the positive impact of community engagement and collaboration with public education, national studies and the author’s “lived world” have shown that board member policies and practices are not consistent with recommendations in the studies. I propose that the sources of social capital have a relationship to the school board members’ policies and practices that impact the level of the community collaboration with the school district. These sources of social capital - opportunity, motivation, and ability - are based on the social capital framework of Adler & Kwon (Adler & Kwon 2002). These sources are further examined in this paper with the addition of scholarly literature from the public administration domain.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreNever before in the history of public education has it been more critical for school boards to connect with their communities. As more and more demands are made on public schools, districts must rely on their communities to boost the value of their schools by increasing resources, building support, co-producing results and overcoming obstacles. The objective of this study was to understand the factors –within the framework of social capital - related to board members that either promote or hinder community collaboration with their school districts. As part of this exploratory case study, the superintendent and two board members in each of three school districts were interviewed about the boards’ leadership styles and their experiences with networking. The results suggest a linkage between board leadership styles, their types of networking experiences and the level of community collaboration with the school district. The study also raises questions about the impact of external drivers - the level of board member diversity, as well as community size and community growth - on board leadership styles and the level of community collaboration. The conceptual model and its constructs will require testing and validation over a broader audience, as the participant sample in this study is limited. This research will contribute to the literature on board governance, leadership styles and social capital.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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