Instructional Capacity and High Performance Schools

Measuring School Capacity, Maximizing School Improvement

“…Human capital can be roughly defined as the knowledge, skills, commitment, disposition, and intellectual ability of the members of a school's staff (Newmann, King, & Youngs, 2000;Spillane & Thompson, 1997;Corcoran & Goertz, 1995). Put in very simple terms, human capital is the amount that a school benefits from having each individual working there, each person with his or her own strengths, weaknesses, and preferences.…”

“…In terms of the outcome variable, some authors (Spillane & Thompson, 1997;Corcoran & Goertz, 1995) describe capacity as the discrete characteristics that enable a school to bring about effective change, while others (Hatch, 2009;Newmann, King, & Youngs, 2000) define capacity more specifically as the "collective competency" or "investment" necessary for a school to improve in a meaningful way. In their work on instructional capacity, Corcoran and Goertz (1995) define capacity in terms of economics, describing it as "the optimal amount of production that can be obtained from a given set of resources and organizational arrangements." Authors also differ slightly in their unit of analysis.…”

“…Newmann et al (2001) list the resources that schools with high capacity usually possess, including high-quality curriculum, instructional material, assessment instruments, classroom technology, and workspace. Others, such as Corcoran and Goertz (1995), expand the scope of resources to include organizational factors such as adequate staffing levels, instructional support, professional development, and class size. The reason for these discrepancies is that resources only build school capacity if they are used properly and in a way that supports the other three components.…”

“…Using a literature-based definition of school capacity, we identify four main components of capacity: human capital, social capital, program coherence, and resources (Hatch, 2009;Elmore, 2000;Fullan, 2000;Spillane & Thompson, 1997;Corcoran & Goertz, 1995). Each of these components is defined and discussed below.…”

“…In this Policy Brief, we break capacity down into component parts, explaining how each one builds off the next and contributes to the overall concept. Our hope is that the four research-based components we suggesthuman capital, social capital, program coherence, and resources (building on Hatch, 2009;Elmore, 2000;Fullan, 2000;Spillane & Thompson, 1997;Corcoran & Goertz, 1995) -will stimulate discussion of a widely accepted meaning of capacity in both research and practice.…”