Learning One’s Place: Status Perceptions and Social Capital in Teacher Communities

Abstract

Teacher collaboration in communities is a popular instructional improvement policy. However, not all teachers are equally integrated into communities. So, they may not have the same opportunities to learn. This exploratory study of 215 urban public school teachers indicates community integration and peer learning are associated with teachers’ social status—namely, the perceived ranking of their own and their colleagues’ expertise. High status teachers are more frequently sought out, low status teachers less so. Teachers who perceive their own status more favorably than how their colleagues perceive it associate more with members of other communities. These same teachers report practices that are more similar to their peers. If this results from misperceptions of their own and their colleagues’ expertise, then status inconsistency may not only limit access to instructionl epertise but also mask the need for expertise.