New Book, New Website

My book, The Networked Teacher: How New Teachers Build Social Networks for Professional Support, will be available in stores and online at the end of August (although you CAN pre-order it online at Amazon.com). If you want a sneak peak of the book, visit the companion website athttp://www.thenetworkedteacher.com. In addition to previews, folks that eventually read the book will be able to use some of the interactive tools such as network graphing technology, book group discussion guides, and interactive forums. Check it out and share with others who might be interested!

A tide of publications on Teachers’ Social Networks (II – The Articles)

In my last post, I described some of the books that have recently been published on the topic of teachers’ social networks. In addition to books, there has been a flurry of publication on the topic. I’ll touch on a few by colleagues- with some shameless self-promotion to boot – If I’ve left some of your favorites out, be sure to chime in on the comments section!

Policy Articles

Daly, A. J., Moolenaar, N.M., Bolivar, J.M, & Burke, P. (2010) Relationships in reform: The role of teachers’ social networks. Journal of Educational Administration. 48 (3)

As mentioned in the previous post, Daly and are big on the teachers’ social network scene, and this article is massive – covering the implementation of as school reform across an entire district from the point of view of social networks. The implications slap you in the face with the significance of social networks in teachers’ work – when schools had greater density in their reform-related networks, they were more likely to have successful reform outcomes.

Coburn, C.E., & Russell, J.L. (2008) District Policy and Teachers’ Social Networks. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. 30 (3)

Okay, so this one isn’t so recent, but I haven’t mentioned it yet, and I must say that it’s one that I keep going back to. Like Daly et. al., Coburn and Russell look at how district policy was implemented from a social network perspective, yet their approach is much more qualitative. You get a vivid pictures of what social networks look like on the ground and the everyday interactions that impact them.

Baker-Doyle, K.J. (2010) Beyond the labor market paradigm: A social network perspective on teacher recruitment and retention. Educational Policy and Analysis Archives. 18 (26).

This article was just published a few weeks ago. It is really an overview of research perspectives on teacher recruitment and retention and shows how a social network perspective can reveal factors that are not considered under current research paradigms.

Teacher Support and Professional Development Articles

Anderson, L. (2010) Embedded, emboldened and (net)working for change: Support seeking and teacher agency in urban, high needs schools. Harvard Education Review. 80(4), 541-572

Anderson’s research is on new teachers’ social networks. He research is primarily qualitative, and she digs deep into the complexities of each of her case study teachers’ lives. We’re kindred spirits - I’m really looking forward to seeing more of her work published!!

Baker-Doyle, K.J. & Yoon, S.A. (2010) In search of practitioner-based social capital: A social network analysis tool for understanding and facilitating teacher collaboration in a USA-based STEM professional development program. Professional Development in Education. 37(1), 75-93.

My colleague Susan Yoon and I are in the midst of a series of articles on the social networks of teachers in a STEM professional development program. This is the first in the series. It discusses how we devised a social network analysis tool to investigate the networking dynamics of the group of teachers in the PD. Really interesting findings – mainly that when teachers needed help with science content they did not naturally seek out support from people who had a lot of content knowledge! A little about our intervention and outcomes the second year is in our chapter in Daly’s Book, Social Network Theory and Educational Change. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming articles in the series!

Fox, A., Wilson, E. and Deaney, R (2011) Beginning teachers’ workplace experiences: their perceptions and use of support, Vocations and Learning, 4(1), Available from Online First August 2010

Fox, Anderson, and I have all focused on new teachers’ social networks and we’ve each come to some similar conclusions about a variety of issues. What I agree with most with Fox et. al.’s most recent piece is in their encouragement of new teachers to reject passivity and take charge of networking.

Coming up in my next post....

The Conference Round-Up – AERA 2011 and beyond!

A tide of publications on Teachers’ Social Networks (I – The Books)

Back in 2009 when I started this blog there were a core group of researchers studying teachers' social networks, just beginning to get out publications on their research. To be frank, I didn't have that much news to post. Well now the time has come – a wave of publications with rich data, insights and conversations have come out, sparking dialog and some debate.

There are three books just out and one on the way (mine!) about educational networks.

Robert McCormick, Alison Fox, Patrick Carmichael and Richard Proctor authored Researching and Understanding Educational Networks, published by Routledge earlier this year. The book describes the outcomes of their research on teachers’ social networks. I found it most helpful from a methodological standpoint. McCormick et al. reflect upon the multiple conceptualizations of social networks offered by scholar and by their research participants, and discuss how these conceptualizations shaped their data analyses. Their conclusions are really in their problemetization of the multiple conceptions of support networks. I would recommend this book to scholars interested in mixed-method social network research.

Alan Daly’s edited book, Social Network Theory and Educational Change includes a range of studies using social network analysis to study educational reform in schools (including a chapter by my colleague Susan Yoon and I). The book has garnered rave reviews, and rightly so – Daly has effectively brought together some of the most cutting edge, knowledgeable and respected minds in the small-but-rapidly-growing area of social network research in schools. The book comes out in December, but you can pre-order it on Amazon if you’re like me and you just can’t wait!

Daly’s colleague in multiple studies has been Nienke Moolenaar, who has recently published her dissertation, Ties with Potential: Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences of Social Networks in School Teams, which is available in book form. You can email her to purchase it.

Of course, I can’t end this post without announcing the upcoming publication of my book from Teachers College Press. It is titled The Networked Teacher: How New Teachers Build Social Networks for Professional Support. It focuses on new teachers’ networks, and is aimed at a more general audience (teachers, mentors, administrators, and teacher educators, as well as scholars), as a practical guide to understanding the research and theory behind teachers’ social networks. It will also have a companion website for the book, where readers can share their experiences in developing or assisting teacher support networks and find additional information on the topic. Should be out in late 2011, if all goes to plan!

Stay tuned for my next post on recent or upcoming scholarly articles on teachers’ social networks!

Keeping Quality Teachers

Rethinking schools just published a special report on social justice-oriented perspectives on retaining quality teachers. To see the collection, visit this link.

The Disheartened, The Contented, and The Idealists: Teachers of the 21st Century

A new study out by Public Agenda and Learning Points Associates, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the Joyce Foundation, examined teachers' perceptions of their job in relation to their experiences in school. Teachers were grouped into three categories: Disheartened, Contented, and Idealists. Surprisingly, the majority (40%) of teachers in the national survey (over 900 teachers participating) were categorized as Disheartened. Coming in second, 37% were Contented. Few were Idealist - an important category that indicated hope and work towards school reform and transformation.

To read more about the study or get a copy of the report, click here.

Teacher Peer Learning increases student achievement

After a summer hiatus, it's good to be back to the blog...

Lots of exciting happenings in the world of teacher networks, which I'll be blogging about over the course of the fall. 

For now - Here's a new study that just came out in the American Economics Journal, indicating a "spillover effect" for high quality teachers to less experienced teachers - in terms of student achievement. The authors are C. Kirabo Jackson and Elias Bruegmann.

New Report out by TNTP

The New Teacher Project, has just published a report on how schools measure teacher effectiveness. It argues that teachers are too often thought of as "widgets" (thus, the title of the report - "The Widget Effect") instead of individuals. The authors conclude that schools 

“fail to distinguish great teaching from good, good from fair, and fair from poor. A teacher’s effectiveness – the most important factor for schools in improving student achievement – is not measured, recorded, or used to inform decision-making in any meaningful way.”

To read the report, go to widgeteffect.org