Donald Hunt

Social Capital and Teacher Perceptions Ofprofessional Control: an Analysis Using Sass Donald Hunt

American public schools are projected to needapproximately 350,000 and 400,000 new teachers everyyear (Gerald and Hussar, 2004). Perhaps the mosteffective means of meeting the demand for teachers isby keeping them in the field of education. Up to 50percent leave within the first five years ofteaching. This study looks at the contribution ofsocial capital to teachers' perceptions of curricularand instructional control. Aspects of social capitalare shown to strongly influence teacher perceptionsof control in this study. Perceptions of control arecentral to feelings of self-efficacy, jobsatisfaction, longevity, and motivation. One avenueto improving job satisfaction and performance, aswell as decreasing burn out, is to implementstrategies that contribute to that sense of control. This study makes a connection between social capitaland control, which has policy and administrativeimplications regarding how we can direct efforts tokeep teachers in the field. This study will be ofinterest to those interested in social capital,researchers using large scale datasets (such asSASS), and policy makers.