This case uses the COVID-19 crisis experience to consider the complex dimensions of crisis and the impact of that complexity on crisis leadership. The case challenges students to consider how this, and other, crises are catalytic events that unleash social, political, and economic forces for which school and district leaders must prepare.

PurposeThis paper explored the intersection of leadership, crisis and context to understand the social and political dimensions of crisis as a phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThis multiple case study of three urban superintendents used crisis and complexity theory literature to inform analysis of superintendent interviews, board observations and social/media content.FindingsCOVID-19 exhibited attributes—crisis origin, breadth and severity, clarity of action and time horizon—that shaped how leaders led and managed. And stakeholder composition, values and motivations shaped how superintendents engaged with actors in their efforts to balance the competing values of safety and choice.Originality/valueParacrisis and complexity theory literature offer important insights into crises and crisis leadership. These conceptual perspectives illuminate how stakeholders shape macro- and local-level crisis contexts. Further, they underscore the importance of accurate and timely feedback that informs the social and political dimensions of crisis management.

Purpose This study aims to understand how to develop, support and utilize professional learning community (PLCs) to build organizational capacity to support teacher learning and collaboration. Although literature highlights the importance of leadership in creating a PLC, there is little research on specific actions leaders can take to create an authentic, sustainable PLC. Design/methodology/approach We employed a multicase study approach at three school sites within the same district. Our research was guided by the following questions: (1) How are learning communities developed and sustained in school settings?; (2) What is the role of administrators in cultivating learning communities?; and (3) What factors contribute to and hinder the success of learning communities? Findings Despite being in the same school district, the three schools’ PLCs operated differently. The schools displayed characteristics of PLCs, with minimal implementation of all components. Developing a professional learning community at all three sites began with implementing structural factors and mandating specific activities such as weekly grade-level planning. Social factors were much more complex to control by administration, affecting the fidelity of learning and collaboration within the PLCs. Originality/value Although the literature highlights the importance of leadership in creating a PLC, there is little research that supports specific actions leaders can take to create an authentic, sustainable community of practice. In addition, there is limited literature supporting how administrators use PLCs to build organizational capacity and support teacher learning. Our study contributes to building the empirical knowledge base related to these two areas.

Cyberattacks have become more common, sophisticated, and harmful, while, at the same time, there is a critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals. For example, from October 2019 to September 2020, there were more than 40,000 unfilled positions for information security analysts. 2 While educational organizations have responded to this burgeoning demand, cybersecurity education and training institutions in the United States have found it difficult to keep pace with the growing call for cybertalent.

Scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognized the role of culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL). However, few studies have applied recent comprehensive CRSL theoretical frameworks. This in-depth case study explores how a school leader understands and shapes a school culture to be increasingly culturally responsive to students. Utilizing recent conceptualizations of CRSL as a lens, two major findings were developed. First, the principal’s understanding of what it means to be a culturally responsive leader is centered on the student experience: meeting basic needs, seeking “vertical” engagement, and transforming student world views. Second, to meet those student needs the principal practiced differentiated instructional leadership according to individual teacher needs and oriented to fostering a culturally responsive school culture. We suggest future research carefully examine (1) the interplay of beliefs, dispositions, and values in CRSL play, and (2) how CRSL (where it exists) manifests as an organizational.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how and in what ways networking served as a vehicle to informal learning among elementary school principals.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a multiple case study methodology across a ten-week period, studying six principals and conducting over 50 interviews. Six individual case studies were conducted, followed by a cross-case analysis.FindingsThis study found that a principal’s informal learning opportunities are just as important as formal ones, and often occur more frequently. Principals rely daily on a small network of other principals to informally learn about pressing challenges and situations in their schools. Informal learning allows principals to continually develop and refine their practices without the confines of formally set dates and times. Informal learning happens organically and is needs driven based on what knowledge a principal requires at a given point in time.Originality/valueAlthough formal learning has been a focus in educational leadership research for the past 15 years, almost nothing is known about how principals informally learning. This study adds to the very limited body of research in the educational leadership field.

In this chapter we used a content analysis process (Sanzo, 2012) on select 2010 and 2013 funded grant projects that focus specifically on leadership preparation and development in small and mid-sized urban school districts. The purpose of this analysis was to better understand how School Leadership Program (SLP) grant projects approach leadership preparation and development in small to medium-sized districts. Specifically, we explored how and in what ways did these grant-funded partnerships propose to recruit, structure partnerships, and mentor/coach participants. We discovered that SLP projects in this analysis utilize innovative means of recruiting and selecting program participants in a variety of ways, do not utilize a "one-size-fits" all model in their approach to preparing and developing school leaders, and employ authentic partnerships utilize a variety of collaborative mechanisms.

This case was written for school leaders, specifically building-level principals and central office administrators attempting to implement school turnaround reform efforts. Often, leaders who embark on this type of organizational change work in intense environments that produce high levels of pressure to demonstrate improvement in student achievement. Educators studying this case should examine the impact on ethical leadership when implementing rapid reform efforts, particularly the pressure on school leaders at the district and building levels to employ a transactional rather than transformational approach to leadership as they respond to the pressures of turnaround school policy.

This mixed-method evaluation study examines relationships between the nature and characteristics of teachers' prior experiences and teachers' practice of standards-based instruction as a measure of instructional quality among alternatively certified mathematics and science teachers. The study found that career length, number of prior careers, and career relevance to subject area were not related to instructional quality. However, teachers with prior career experiences that were education-related practiced standards-based instruction to a greater degree than teachers with no education-relevant career experience. Implications of these findings for policy makers and practitioners are discussed.