Chapter 10: Toward a Human Capital Development Strategy: Uncovering the Approaches Used by a High School Principal to Support Teacher Learning

The central task of this chapter is to advance a framework for understanding one path that principals can use to develop human capital in their schools—the approaches used to support teacher learning. This framework emerged from a qualitative study that examined the ways high school principals, nominated for their expertise in capacity building, supported teacher learning. Study findings reveal similarities and differences between the principals’ approaches across four themes: (1) the enacted reform strategy and the degree to which organizational alignment existed to support the reform strategy, (2) the conceptualization of teacher learning and the comprehensiveness of teacher development approaches used, (3) the degree to which secondary settings within the school context were engaged to support teacher learning, and (4) the extent to which material and social resources were marshaled to support teacher development. From these cases, one case has been selected and is presented in this chapter to not only illustrate the framework but to also provide a fine-grained view of principal leadership for human capital development. The salience of this case is considered by comparing leadership practices in each of the four areas of the framework to relevant research and scholarship. Implications for practice are also advanced.