Approaches to measuring students' social capital emerging among schools and nonprofits

Social capital is key to helping young people get by and get ahead. Rivaling "what" students know, whom they know is in fact a key predictor of economic mobility. Most schools and youth-serving nonprofits wholeheartedly agree that relationships matter. But far fewer actually measure students’ social capital. Oftentimes, relationships, valuable as they may be, are treated as inputs to learning and development rather than outcomes in their own right. In turn, schools routinely leave students’ access to relationships and networks to chance.
In recent years, however, advances in surveys, student-facing tools and data, and technology-enabled data and research mark important strides toward measuring students’ relationships and the resources they can offer in more equitable, meaningful, and actionable ways. This presentation will feature finding from the Christensen Institute's research report, The Missing Metrics. Julia will describe both why and how a variety of U.S.-based educational programs are endeavoring to build and measure students' social capital. Participants will learn about examples of measures developed by schools, nonprofits, and researchers and access to an up-to-date list of sample survey items and measurement strategies used by organizations in the field.
About the presenter
Julia Freeland Fisher is the director of education research at the Clayton Christensen Institute, where she leads a team that educates policymakers and community leaders on the power of disruptive innovation in K-12 and higher education. Previously, she worked at NewSchools Venture Fund and holds a JD from Yale Law School and a BA from Princeton University.
The webinar was on Friday, June 30, 2023, and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by the International Social Capital Association www.intsocialc... as part of the Facebook group / intsocialcapital and LinkedIn group / 13975650