"Canning" Social Capital: Rural Literacy, Community Resilience, and Solving the Rural Schools Problem
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Authors
Robinson, Sean
Date
2023-12-20
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF
Sean R. Robinson for the degree of Doctor of Education Presented on November 30, 2023
Title: "Canning" Social Capital: Rural Literacy, Community Resilience, and Solving the Rural Schools Prpblem
Abstract Approved: November 29, 2023
Scott Mantie, Ph.D., Dissertation Committee Chair
Over the last fifty years, populations in the northern and western counties of New Hampshire have decreased. As part of a nationwide phenomenon that has been under study for decades, the concern for learning in rural communities has been of national interest for much longer.
Literature in the fields of rural education, rural literacy, and community resilience suggests a link between rural educational practices and social capital-the intangible attachments that link, bridge, and bond people, communities, and the government and allows communities to face socioeconomic challenges. This study investigated the relationship was between educational practices in public high schools in the rural counties of New Hampshire and the social capital of the communities that support them. A convergent mixed-methods study was designed to identify curriculum and learning in public high schools inside the study area, and to identify the level of social capital of each school district. Qualitative methodology including questionnaires, semi structured interviews, and document analysis were used to identify ways in which schools developed social capital. Quantitative methodology used the Social Capital Index to use publicly available census data to identify social capital for each district. The study found that while school districts provided a variety of opportunities for students to develop social capital, schools who worked with their communities as sites of learning had communities with higher social capital than those who viewed their communities predominantly as funding sources.