Embedded, Emboldened, and (Net)Working for Change: Support-Seeking and Teacher Agency in Urban, High-Needs Schools

Abstract

In this article, Lauren Anderson takes an inductive approach to the study of teacher agency, specifically considering who supports teachers, and how, in their efforts to advance equity in urban, high-needs schools. Drawing from a larger research project,Anderson focuses on a multiyear case study of one early-career teacher and incorporates social network and ethnographic methods to investigate relationships among the teacher's support network, her participation in school change efforts, and her career decisionmaking. In doing so, Anderson addresses the potential for network diversity,particularly the presence of supportive school-based and beyond-school ties, to serve as resources for school change, teacher retention, and the construction of school-community social capital.