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Social Capital and Children's Development

July 28, 2008

A new WCER project, Social Capital and Children's Development, measures the effects of social capital on the cognitive and social development of children in the early elementary years. Social capital means the relations of trust and shared expectations among members of a social network. The study is directed by Adam Gamoran and Ruth Lopez Turley. It focuses on children from low-income Latino families and involves a randomized trial of an intervention called Families and Schools Together. FAST is designed to build social capital among parents, teachers, and young children. It’s hypothesized that children in the experimental group will display stronger social skills and school performance and fewer problem behaviors than children in the control group. Increased family-school social capital among disadvantaged families is expected to reduce inequalities in child development, particularly for low-income Latino children.