Navigating Policy and Local Context in Times of Crisis: District and School Leader Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: To examine how federal/state-level policy guidance and local context have influenced district and school leader responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how these external/internal factors might provide a window into K-12 crisis leadership and policy sensemaking more broadly. Research: Investigating two districts over two years (2020–2022), data gathered include 39 hours of interviews with K-12 leaders (n = 41) and teachers (n = 18), federal/state-level policy documents (N = 64) governing these districts, and school staff responses to the Comprehensive Assessment of Leaders for Learning survey (N = 111). Drawing theoretically upon sensemaking, crisis leadership/management, law/policy implementation, and organizational theory, these data were analyzed using both inductive and deductive coding over several phases. Findings: In tracing the confluence of federal/state-level guidance and local capacities, we find both influenced K-12 leaders' sensemaking and subsequent responses to COVID-19. However, districts that possessed adequate expertise and organizational resources were better positioned to respond to the crisis, whereas those lacking such capacities experienced increased anxiety/stress. Conclusion: We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic provides a new window into the critical external/internal factors influencing K-12 leader sensemaking and subsequent responses to crises more broadly. We also discuss the potential role intermediate service agencies might play in the development of a stronger crisis response infrastructure for associated districts and schools. Finally, we point out how principal preparation programs and professional development efforts could prospectively address such crisis-related challenges faced by K-12 leaders. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Educational Administration Quarterly is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The crisis you can't plan for: K-12 leader responses and organisational preparedness during COVID-19

Unlike many types of educational crises, the COVID-19 pandemic was a crisis leaders could not have prepared for. But research is only starting to examine how leaders' responses and organisational context have played a role. This mixed-methods study accordingly examines how leaders have mitigated challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and what local factors are most salient. Investigating two districts over two years in the United States, we conducted extensive interviews with leaders (n = 41) and teachers (n = 18), gathered responses to the Comprehensive Assessment of Leaders for Learning (CALL) survey (N = 111), and district emergency operation plans. We find those education organisations possessing a culture focused on instructional inquiry, more developed distributed leadership networks, and greater material resources were better positioned to respond to the unexpected crisis. In contrast, those lacking such capacities experienced increased stress. Together, these findings further demonstrate the importance organisational preparedness and resources play when limited expertise and technical solutions exist. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Design and Implementation of Online Leadership Education Using Meeting Simulator and Peer Reflection

Since the 2008 academic year, we have been conducting leadership education for master's program in-person classes. In this education, simulated experiences using a conference simulator on a computer and reflection on the action in real and simulated experiences are repeated to help students implement their leadership. This class was moved online because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The challenges of online classes include how instructors can understand and guide students' simulations on their computers, and how to conduct peer reflection by students in online classes. As a solution, we shared composite images of students' simulation screens and student camera images, allowing the instructor to remotely monitor and support the students' learning status. Additionally, an online reflection sheet for peer reflection among students was created. Peer reflection among students was conducted online to promote collaborative learning among students. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Subjective Outcome Evaluation of Instructional Videos in Leadership Education.

The aims of this study were to examine the psychometric properties of two subjective outcome evaluation tools measuring students' perceptions of 24 instructional videos and to understand the profiles of students' perceptions of the videos. Online teaching and learning played an important role when school lockdown measures were imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. To facilitate online teaching in a college-level leadership education subject, we developed and piloted 24 instructional videos, including 15 animated videos and 9 case-based videos, in the 2021/22 academic year. To understand students' perceptions of the videos, we developed two subjective outcome evaluation scales (one for the animated videos and another for the case-based videos) to assess the subjective perceptions of 1308 students. Results showed that the developed tools possessed good psychometric properties, including factorial, convergent and discriminant validity. The findings of this study also revealed the students had positive attitudes towards the developed videos, including positive perceptions of the videos' design and the benefits gained from watching them. The present study suggests teachers can meaningfully use the 24 instructional videos in the context of leadership education in higher education.

Satisfaction with HyFlex Teaching and Law-abiding Leadership Education in Hong Kong University Students Under COVID-19.

Since the early days of COVID-19, university teaching has changed from face-to-face format to online mode. With the gradual containment of the pandemic, there is no need for school lockdown. As a result, the teaching format has changed to HyFlex mode integrating both face-to-face and online modes. Obviously, it is necessary to understand the academic quality of life among students under the Hyflex teaching mode. In this paper, we report an evaluation study on a leadership subject in Hong Kong delivered via HyFlex teaching using a post-lecture evaluation strategy. In one of the lectures, we covered law-abiding leadership in university students, including abiding by the Hong Kong National Security Law. The post-lecture evaluation showed that students generally held positive views toward the HyFlex teaching and they perceived that the subject promoted their well-being indexed by psychosocial competence. Regarding the lecture on law-abiding leadership, students agreed that the lecture promoted their psychosocial competence, personal development, knowledge about law-abiding behavior and national security (including the Hong Kong National Security Law), and readiness to serve as socially responsible leaders. Positive perceptions of the lecture design, teacher performance, lecture content of law-abiding leadership and national security, and benefits positively predicted students' overall satisfaction with the lecture on law-abiding leadership and national security.

Innovating Management and Leadership in Contemporary Times: Motivation and Evaluation in Learning

The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in how we live, work, and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technological advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. Each of them was followed by fundamental changes in everyday lives. Such events require a switch in mindsets. Understandably, in contemporary reality, society and educational institutions broadly recognize the need for continuous, life-long learning and prepare to deal with unexpected events. Knowledge exchange and cooperation play a crucial role in the development of new solutions for unforeseen challenges. Research has proven cooperative learning to be more efficient than traditional knowledge transfer from teacher to students. Such changes in education are not easy. For example, the imposed change to online learning due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic partially obstructed the necessary development towards it. Practice showed that both motivation and evaluation play an essential role in overcoming the barriers to introducing cooperative and online learning concepts. In line with that, we developed new mechanisms to fine-tune the evaluation process for more efficient learning. Furthermore, the pandemic showed that the assumption "context is leading" is just as important as a course's content and internal organization. In cooperative learning, evaluation should focus on helping teachers understand the level to which stakeholders reach learning objectives and improve our insights in the learning process itself. In this sense, the pandemic led to an innovation stimulus for our education in management and leadership. However, in a changing context, old habits may relapse to old patterns and block the efforts to innovate and introduce cooperative education. In the conceptual paper, we search to find the motivational factors for improving adaptivity and avoiding falling back, using the Adaptive Cycle of Resilience model. We will work out our experiences to deal with this threat, stimulate stakeholders in taking an active stance in the learning process.