“Societal Impact” Please respond to the following:

• Compare and contrast civic capacity with social capital in terms of the ability of each concept to transform schools. Propose three ways that you would try to build social capital if you were an educational leader.
• Analyze how the economics and moral order of your community are affecting your school district. Determine two areas that are in need of improvement and propose a solution for each of these issues.

Peer Response:

In civic capacity it refers to the ability of business leaders, union leaders, civic leaders, educational leaders, and leaders of other significant organizations to work together on behalf of common goals. Social capital refers to the presence of trust,norms of reciprocity, feelings of mutualism, and common identity, and community. However, in the development and organizational learning literature these networks, norms, and trust which facilitate co-operation for mutual benefit are referred to as social capital can be thought of as the framework that, supports the process of learning through interaction and requires the formation of networking paths that, are both horizontal across agencies and sectors and vertical agencies to communities to individuals. The quality of the social processes and relationships within, which learning interactions take place is especially influential on the quality of the learning outcomes in collaborative approaches.

Three ways that I would try to build social capital as an educational leader. I would build social capital by:

1. Bridging – Social capital is a resource that helps people to bridge relationships with a wide, more varied set of people than those in the immediate family or school environment for example, between students and employers, or teachers and community workers. Bridging social capital helps people to get on and not just get by. Bridging social capital is understood as important in helping employment and career advancement.

2. Linking – Social capital enables connections between people across differences in status, for example, links between parents of children attending the same school but, from different background, or between their children.

3. Bonding – This variety of social capital can help people to get by. It is valuable in building a sense of shared identity and security. Bonding social capital may be developed and recognized in different ways in a school setting, some forms may work with the school aims and organization while others may seem to work against it, for example, the bonding social capital that is produced in disruptive behavior among groups of pupils. 

“School Leadership” Please respond to the following:

• From the e-Activity, analyze the extent to which the selected school district’s mission and vision statement supports a learning organization. Provide three suggestions that will help the school district’s mission and vision statement better support a learning organization.
• From the e-Activity, determine opportunities to institute change within the mission and vision statements. Propose three ways that teacher leaders can take on a stronger leadership role.

Peer Response

Vision

All Wake County Public School System students will be prepared to reach their full potential and lead productive lives in a complex and changing world. 

Mission

Wake County Public School System will provide a relevant and engaging education and will graduate students who are collaborative, creative, effective communicators and critical thinkers.

(Courtesy of wcpss.net, Wake Co. Public School System website)

• From the e-Activity, analyze the extent to which the selected school district’s mission and vision statement supports a learning organization. Provide three suggestions that will help the school district’s mission and vision statement better support a learning organization.

Based on the e-Activity, Wake County Public school district mission and vision statements support a learning organization because it is geared to reform the school continually each year. The district seeks to forever change to meet the needs of their ever-growing staff, faculty, and students. WCPSS also has a strategic plan in which WCPSS by 2020, will annually graduate at least 95% of its students ready for productive citizenship as well as higher education or a career. I have no suggestion on changing the vision or mission since I feel it represents what a learning organization is.

• From the e-Activity, determine opportunities to institute change within the mission and vision statements. Propose three ways that teacher leaders can take on a stronger leadership role.

My proposal is to provide an explanation of how the district vision and mission can be mastered. By explaining how the school plans to lead students to reach their full potential and lead productive lives in a complex ever-changing world will make it clear to readers. Since a learning organization continually attempts to change to promote student’s success so should the vision and mission yearly. To stay in control, we need to push hard and aspect more from students yearly.