Abstract
Social capital is a crucial concept in the literature on school change. It is a prerequisite condition and an output for social change, which previous empirical studies unfortunately rarely investigated. Therefore, we conducted a case study. Using learning community as an approach to reform, we explored two types of elementary schools with different degrees of change success. A semi-structured interview was the method for data collection. The interviewees in our study included principals, school administrators, chairs of teacher associations, and teachers. The findings indicated that the schools which successfully implemented changes had prerequisite social capital to trigger innovation. The schools also accumulated more social capital in a variety of forms and quantities after practicing learning community. In other words, school leaders played active roles; social capital was then accumulated and enriched in a virtuous circle of school change. In contrast, the schools that hardly implemented changes lacked stable and firmly connected social capital and had school changes in the learning community. They also had less output in social capital and a lack of effective school leadership. In light of these findings from learning community practices, this study proposed the interactive relationship between social capital and school change.