Jeremy E. Fiel

In a new paper out at Sociology of Education, “Social Capital and Student Achievement: An Intervention-Based Test of Theory” (free pre-print version here), Adam Gamoran, Hannah Miller, Jessa Valentine, and I used a field experiment to examine the effects of social capital on elementary school students’ academic achievement. The Families and Schools Together (FAST) intervention was randomly assigned to schools and implemented for two cohorts of first graders. Although the intervention built sustained relationships among parents (what James Coleman called intergenerational closure), we found no evidence of any impact on math or reading test scores at the end of third grade. Read more here or check out the article at the links above.