District Leaders Research Articles

“Let's Take the B*tch Down!”: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Race and Gender in HBO's Vice Principals

Purpose: In the HBO comedy series, Vice Principals, two white men vice principals respond to the hiring of a Black woman high school principal with physical, emotional, and workplace violence. The purpose of this study was to explore (1) white men educational leaders’ perceptions of a Black woman educational leader, and (2) their responses to being passed over for promotion by a Black woman. Methods: Using whiteness as property as the theoretical framework, this study uses a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis applied to the first season of the television series (nine 30-min episodes) to uncover the relationships and power dynamics between the three main characters. Findings: White men are the most likely to hold the high school principalship. The findings highlight how the series’ white male characters worked together to force the Black woman out of her role as principal, based on the assumption that either of them was more deserving of the position than her. Although fictitious, these examples parallel the real-world experiences of Black women educational leaders in today's public schools. Implications: This study contributes to scholarship about why Black educators may leave the profession, particularly highlighting the influence of unsupportive school contexts, and more specifically, the gendered racism experienced by Black women. Superintendent preparation programs can consider coursework that encourages aspiring district leaders to identify specific mentoring and support for Black women principals and principals from other marginalized backgrounds. Finally, this scholarship highlights how popular media can be a useful data source for educational leadership research.

Community health system capacities and capabilities within an evolving community health policy framework: mixed methods study of stakeholders in central Uganda

ObjectivesEmpowering communities through identifying and unlocking community capacities and capabilities is vital for improving community health systems. This study assessed the community health system’s status quo and readiness for implementing...

The Continued Implementation and Perceived Impact of an Elementary School Wellness Policy After Extended COVID-19-Related School Closures.

Schools play a key role in children's health. Following COVID-19, programs that promote students' well-being are needed more than ever. This study examines the continuation of a wellness initiative in Anchorage, Alaska, in the 2021-2022 school year. Interviews were conducted with n = 25 principals and cafeteria managers. Content analyses of the qualitative data were conducted using an immersion/crystallization approach. Codes were grouped to create themes contained under larger domains. All schools continued aspects of the wellness initiative following COVID-19. Principals and cafeteria managers indicated: recess, movement opportunities, and longer lunch periods are important for mental health, socialization, and relationship building; COVID-19 exacerbated previous challenges with staffing shortages; additional pressure for the academic time made scheduling the wellness initiative challenging; longer lunch periods give younger students time to eat but cause poor behavior in older students which were alleviated through supportive strategies; and 30-minute recess and movement breaks offer more time to move, reset, and focus on schoolwork. The study underscores the importance of school administrators integrating wellness initiatives into their policies, with buy-in from school and district leadership. This study highlights the need for and importance of school wellness initiatives following COVID-19 extended school closures.

Racial Justice Cannot Be Opt-In

Despite a wave of support for anti-racist pedagogy and practices in the spring of 2020, authentic adoption remained limited, signaling an uphill battle during the present era of racial backlash. This brief, which relies on interviews with 55 New York teachers, found that most teachers showed interest in adopting anti-racist approaches but struggled due to limited support from district and local leadership. These findings suggest that large pedagogical shifts, such as anti-racist curriculum and instruction, are unlikely to be achieved without more broad-based and proactive support from administrators at all levels, especially given the ever-increasing politicization of anti-racist teaching.

Educational leaders and school-based mental health: a social network analysis of knowledge brokerage

This study examines the relational dynamics of knowledge brokerage among educational leaders in implementing multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) for mental health promotion in schools. Recognizing the critical link between student mental health and academic achievement, schools are increasingly expected to provide comprehensive mental health supports. Utilizing social network analysis (SNA), this research explores the information-seeking behaviors of educational leaders within a public school system in British Columbia, Canada. By mapping the relational connections among school and district leaders, the study identifies how these leaders, as knowledge brokers, navigate and influence educational policies and practices related to MTSS. The findings reveal latent interaction patterns that can either facilitate or impede the flow of essential information, highlighting potential areas for strategic intervention. The analysis demonstrates the importance of leadership in fostering collaboration and ensuring the effective integration of mental health initiatives into school communities. Additionally, the study underscores the complex interactions through which knowledge is exchanged and mobilized, emphasizing the need for systems to enhance relational ties and promote collaborative leadership. This research contributes to the scholarship and practice of educational leadership by advancing the understanding of how social networks and knowledge brokerage can support the successful implementation of MTSS.

High school foundational skills intervention in context: Lessons from a research–practice partnership in an urban district

AbstractWhile adolescent foundational skills interventions can be critical levers for reading improvement, district leaders, teachers, and researchers must make complex decisions about how to evaluate their effectiveness in context. In this discussion article, we explore three issues and tensions we experienced during a 2‐year research–practice partnership overhauling Tier II high school reading intervention practices in a district serving largely African American students. First, we discuss assessment and the challenges of using data and reading theory to simultaneously address system‐level and student‐level needs. Second, we share our process for choosing a curriculum and evaluating its effectiveness. Finally, we weigh how students' African American English may have been related to program implementation and foundational skills development. We share our takeaways to help practitioners and researchers seeking systematic foundational skills improvement across a district, especially districts like ours.

Working toward transformation: educational leaders' use of continuous improvement to advance equity

IntroductionThis comparative case study explores how educational leaders in three networked improvement communities (NICs) situated in the same school district use a continuous improvement (CI) approach, improvement science, to address equity-focused problems of practice. The district that is the focus of this study represents a critical case for understanding educational leaders' use of CI approaches as a lever for equity-focused school reform because the system and state in which it was situated had made ongoing investments in both advancing equity in schools and using various CI approaches.MethodsData collection and analysis focused on interviews with four district leaders and eight school leaders, observations of ~24 h of NIC meetings and planning meetings, and document collection. I draw on sensemaking theory to understand the factors that supported and/or constrained educational leaders' use of CI to advance equity, including more dominant and transformative equity work.ResultsAll educational leaders in the study described and were observed attending to equity as they engaged in CI. The district's sustained investments in equity-focused reform, the use of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, data use, and NIC facilitation each acted as important factors that shaped this process.DiscussionAdvancing equity is long term work that involves addressing deeply rooted beliefs, changing policies and practices, and redesigning systems. Study findings suggest that districts may be more successful in leveraging CI to advance equity when they combine this action-oriented approach with a sustained focus on disrupting oppressive mindsets, values, and beliefs that can hinder transformational change.

Policy Framing, Social Networks, and Teacher Perspectives in a Technology Rollout

Drawing on theories of framing and social networks, we examine how educators define policy goals in a technology rollout, and how this framing process shapes teacher attitudes for technology. We analyzed social network data and 37 interviews with district leaders, digital learning coaches, and school staff from six elementary schools in a mid-sized district in California. These data suggest that school leaders and teachers re-framed district reform messages in different ways depending on the density of dialogue in their networks and who had social influence. These framings supported teacher motivation for using technology in ways that aligned to or built upon the district's instructional goals, or prompted teachers to resist change and/or make compliance-oriented and superficial shifts in their practice. We argue that district leaders should attend to school context when implementing technology rollouts and proactively engage school actors to define the goals of technology. We caution that technology rollouts demand sudden and intensive shifts in teacher work roles and can foster resistance to change without adequate time and support.

Preparation of pre-service special education teachers on conducting functional behavioral assessments: A pilot study

Before implementing individualized interventions for students exhibiting challenging behaviors, special education teachers must be equipped to assess behavioral functions. However, many school personnel have been found to be unprepared to conduct evidence-based functional behavioral assessments (FBA). This situation highlights a potential gap in pre-service training. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the preparation of Illinois pre-service special education teachers for conducting FBAs. Public data were collected on 33 traditional special education licensure programs and their affiliated institutes of higher education. Nine of the 33 participated in the study, with innovation configurations used to analyze special education program course syllabi and questionnaires completed by program faculty. The authors found variability among the sample of programs regarding content delivery and faculty perceptions of pre-service teachers’ skills and knowledge. The study’s results leave many considerations for district leaders as they hire and mentor special education teachers.

Administrator Turnover: The Roles of District Support, Safety, Anxiety, and Violence from Students.

Researchers have examined the importance of school administrative support for teacher safety, victimization, anxiety, and retention; however, studies to date have rarely focused on school administrators' perceptions of support by their district leaders, and its relation to administrators' anxiety/stress, safety, and their intentions to transfer or quit their jobs. In the current study of 457 PreK-12th grade school administrators in the United States, structural equation modeling was used to examine relations between administrators' perceptions of support from their district leaders and their anxiety/stress, safety, and intentions to transfer or quit their jobs. Administrator experiences of violence by student offenders served as a moderator. Results indicated that administrators' perceptions of district leaders' support were associated with lower intentions to transfer or quit their positions both directly and indirectly as a function of decreased anxiety/stress. District support was positively related to administrator safety, particularly for administrators who reported experiencing more student violence. Findings highlight the importance of district support of administrators for reducing mental health concerns and transfer/quit intentions in the context of student violence against school administrators. Implications of findings for research and practice are presented.

The Instructional Leadership Role of Superintendents in Instructionally Effective School Districts

Throughout the past four decades (1983-2024), the rise of a global economy and the changing nature of American society underscored the importance of educating all children. Successive waves of education reform in the United States of America (USA) launched a wide array of initiatives focused on improving student learning. These state and federal policy initiatives were accompanied by an historic shift in role expectations of school district superintendents. An examination of trend data reported in three successive nation-wide reports released by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) for the years 2000, 2010 and 2020 (Glass, Björk & Brunner, 2000; Kowalski, et al., 2011; Tienken, 2021) suggest that role expectations for district superintendents moved from away from an emphasis on management to a focus on instructional leadership. In addition, findings on superintendent instructional leadership practices in Instructionally Effective School Districts (IESD) reported by Bjork (1993, 2010, 2024) and Bjork & Browne-Ferrigno (2014) note that they effectively used their managerial position to support district-wide instructional improvement. They found that superintendents serving in IESD school districts used enacted their management responsibilities in areas that would indirectly influence the quality of learning and teaching including: (1) Staff selection and recruitment; (2) Principal supervision and evaluation; (3) Establishing clear instructional and curricular goals; (4) Monitoring learning and curricular improvement activities and, (5) Financial planning for instruction. These findings suggest that IESD superintendents’ use their management prerogatives to enact their instructional leadership role and reframe school district leadership for deeper learning in next generation schools.

Safety first: the hidden curriculum of whiteness in race-conscious professional learning

ABSTRACT Applying the analytic lens of critical whiteness, we examine the relationship between facilitation structures and the quality of racial dialogue in educator professional development. We draw on data from a five-session virtual ‘antiracist reading group’ in a rapidly diversifying U.S. district, convened and facilitated by a White district leader. Observed discussions tended towards the superficial and did little to challenge participants’ existing worldviews. We argue that the leader’s facilitation decisions characterised a ‘hidden curriculum’ of safety and comfort that inhibited participants’ development. These moves were further shaped by and reified persistent manifestations of whiteness. We offer implications for the facilitation of antiracist professional learning, equity leadership, broader policies related to equity, and future research.

Co-designing a Children’s Cabinet: a school district–university partnership for youth well-being post-pandemic

PurposeThis paper presents a case study of a school district–university partnership to co-design a Children’s Cabinet, a cross-sector initiative bringing together institutional and community leaders to address youth well-being in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a vibrant, immigrant-serving community in the Northeast United States, the partnership was initiated by district leaders in Spring 2021 after pandemic disruptions led to a youth mental health crisis.Design/methodology/approachOur descriptive, qualitative case study focuses on the structure and emerging design principles of the research–practice partnership, which established a Children’s Cabinet comprised of educational, government and community leaders along with researchers. From Spring 2021 through Spring 2024, we collected and analyzed member and youth interviews, ethnographic observations and artifacts from all meetings and process interviews with key partners.FindingsWe describe the structure of the partnership, including how researchers and district leaders collaborated on meeting facilitation and how researchers conducted and shared applied research. We then discuss three design principles that guided the work, including centering relationships, sustaining focus on key goals and embedding applied research.Originality/valueAs embedded research partners, our team is uniquely situated to narrate the nature and structure of the partnership and reflect on the design of our cross-sector initiative. Increasingly, universities are partnering directly with districts on school improvement initiatives. Our work shows how engaging in RPPs to bring together school, community and research partners can facilitate local leadership and collaboration to address complex, cross-sector goals such as increasing youth well-being.

Employing School Librarians: What Decision-Makers Tell Us

Although research has shown that having a school librarian benefits students, librarian positions are being cut in schools across the U.S. SLIDE — The School Librarian Investigation: Decline or Evolution? — examined federal data on school library staffing and interviewed 49 district leaders about their decisions to eliminate or add librarian positions. Keith Curry Lance, Debra E. Kachel, and Caitlin Gerrity report that of 54 total decisions leaders made related to changes in librarian staffing, 28 resulted in librarian increases and 26 resulted in librarian decreases. Decisions to add or eliminate positions were generally related to changes in district priorities. Although leaders expressed that they value librarians’ role in providing information literacy instruction and support and had positive experiences with librarians, some had to allocate resources to other positions. Others had trouble finding librarians with the necessary qualifications. When making staffing decisions, leaders need to consider what benefits librarians offer and how to meet student and staff needs for information and media literacy.

A National Analysis of P–12 Equity Director Role Establishment

District “equity director” (ED) roles have grown rapidly over the past decade. Drawing on interviews and surveys with over 70 EDs across nearly 30 states, this study documents dramatic ED role growth from 2018 to 2022 specifically and examines why, according to EDs, such roles were established locally. Findings, drawing on scholarship on social activism, demonstrate how insider influence from district educators and leaders; intermediate pressure from community coalitions, parents, and students; and external coercion from state and federal education departments and civil rights agencies spurred ED role establishment. Challenges to ED efficacy are discussed, including ED role establishment as “checkbox” work and politicized attacks on district diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

Conceptualizing Teachers Unions as Organizations Leading for Equity

Purpose: Teachers unions in the United States are increasingly taking up issues of equity and justice. While there is a growing and robust body of scholarship on leading for equity, unions are rarely included as sources of education leadership. This creates an opportunity to not only consider unions in these equity efforts, but also re-shape our understandings of the shifting purposes and priorities of unions themselves. Methods: This paper synthesizes the literature to argue for the conceptualization of teachers unions as consequential sites of equity-focused leadership. Drawing from a larger year-long qualitative case study of a social-justice minded teachers union, I illustrate how a union may infrastructure towards equity by highlighting key mechanisms by which they lead. Findings & Implications: Through the creation of a union-based equity center and leveraging the collective bargaining agreement, this teachers union was able to implement formal structures to prioritize racial equity, educator agency, and autonomy. Unions are making strides to lead for equity and should be examined as a form of district leadership. Investigating these new contexts expands our conceptualizations of leadership and opens new possibilities for systemic change.

School District Discourse Coalitions and Equity-Focused Policy Innovations in Oakland, California 2020–2021

Purpose: To better understand how district leaders at urban school districts innovate and design policies, this study investigated how actors in one district, Oakland Unified School District, discussed ways to improve their education system at school board meetings during 2020 and 2021. Approach: The research used a case study approach to develop a process of inquiry, drawing on theoretical literature on innovation in social fields, empirical work on urban education reforms, and methodological considerations from critical social analysis techniques. It used a variety of qualitative methods to identify critical policy issues and policy innovations, and examined the way actors in two coalitions, each with a different approach to change, used discourse to convey their ideologies about racial equity and justice. Findings: District actors collaboratively designed and passed five innovative policies: school safety, remote learning, climate change, Black reparations, and mental health. While one group, the incumbent discourse coalition, focused attention on fiscal stability and closing underperforming schools, another, the challenger discourse coalition, conveyed strategies on improving schools and surrounding communities through new education policies. Though unexpected crises expedited innovation, the perspectives of the dominant culture were most privileged in the final designs of resolutions. Implications: By using broad theories and generalizable concepts this study shows how discourse in policymaking can be examined in other settings and illustrates ways similar school districts may innovate in their systems.

Agency, Structure, and Organization: School-Wide Approaches to Dismantling Injustice

Schools and districts have long grappled with race- and disability-based exclusionary discipline inequities. Research on the topic has uncovered a variety of systems that maintain such disparities, including school policies and practices that exacerbate the problem. Researchers and practitioners have increasingly considered school context and practices as mediators of both special education and exclusionary discipline risk. Although educational leaders are often required to review policies, practices, and procedures that contribute to inequities, few tools exist for practical translation toward school-wide solutions. This case is designed to help school and district leaders translate theory and research into practical actions for transformational change. The case provides considerations for designing and implementing culturally responsive Multi-Tiered Systems and Supports within a given school context, including climate and programming.

“Embracing the essence of student voice…then doing something with the data”: One district’s critical use of evidence

AbstractSchool climate surveys are frequently used to collect information about student experiences in school. Less is known about how educators use survey data after survey administration. This paper explores one school district’s critical use of evidence to promote equitable change. We conducted eight semi-structured interviews with district and school leaders to investigate their uses of evidence. Through our qualitative, reflexive thematic analysis, we generated six themes: (1) using evidence to provide a common language; (2) bringing attention to trends to shift staff understanding of problems, (3) making structural changes, (4) planning for professional learning, (5) following up directly with students, and (6) engaging with the community. Findings illustrate how education leaders can apply a critical lens to their generation and use of evidence. We explore how the strategic use of evidence is needed to advance the broader goal of fostering school change and improving school climate for all students.

Being Relevant

Abstract: In her first column, new NATS President Alexis Davis-Hazell articulates a vision for the relevance of NATS in the 21st century. She reflects on the original objectives of NATS’ charter members and explores questions that help form an organizational outlook reaching into the year 2044. Davis-Hazell introduces a philosophy of retention involving representation of multiple cultural and professional identities, generations, and musical genres within chapter, district, and region leadership. She challenges current members to nominate more independent teachers for leadership positions and to support the investment in technological advancements for the association that will move us toward fulfilling NATS’ vision.