Drawing on data from the RAND American School Leader Panel 2020 COVID-19 Distance Learning Surveys, we analyze principal perceptions of school preparedness for distance learning with a specific focus on how different school types (e.g., rural, urban, and suburban) and student groups (e.g., students with mild disabilities, English learner students) were impacted by rapid school closure. These findings have important implications for how state education agencies, policymakers, and districts plan to address the growth of opportunity gaps among student groups. In addition, findings have important implications for education leadership and policy researchers seeking to design and implement studies to inform next generation policy and practice.
BakerB.Di CarloM.WeberM. (2019). The adequacy and fairness of state school finance systems. Albert Shanker Institute & Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
BishopW. E.FifoltM.PetersG. B.GurleyD. K.CollinsL. (2015). Perceptions and experiences of K-12 educational leaders in response to the 27 April 2011 tornadoes. School Leadership and Management, 35(2), 215–235.
CornellD. G.SherasP. L. (1998). Common errors in school crisis response: Learning from our mistakes. Psychology in the Schools, 35(3), 297–307.
6.
DeMatthewsD. E. (2018). Community engaged leadership for social justice: A critical approach in urban schools. Routledge.
7.
DeMatthewsD. E.KnightD. S.ReyesP.BenedictA.CallahanR. (2020a). From the field: Educational research during a pandemic. Educational Researcher, 49(6), 398–402.
8.
DeMatthewsD. E.SchefferM.KotokS. (2020b). Useful or useless? Principal perceptions of the Texas principal evaluation and support system. Journal of Research on Leadership Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1942775120933920
9.
Digital Learning Collaborative. (2019). Snapshot 2019: A review of K-12 online, blended, and digital learning. https://www.digitallearningcollab.com
FullerE. J.HollingworthL.LiuJ. (2015). Evaluating state principal evaluation plans across the United States. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 10(3), 164–192.
14.
GaineyB. S. (2009). Crisis management’s new role in educational settings. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 82(6), 267–274.
15.
GoldhaberD.QuinceV.TheobaldR. (2018). Has it always been this way? Tracing the evolution of teacher quality gaps in US public schools. American Educational Research Journal, 55(1), 171–201.
16.
GrissomJ.CondonL. (2021). Leading schools and districts in times of crisis. Educational Researcher, 50(5), 315–324.
17.
GrissomJ.EgaliteA.LindsayA. (2021). How principals affect students and schools: A systematic synthesis of two decades of research. Wallace Foundation.
18.
HartP.HeyseL.BoinR. A. (2001). New trends in crisis management practice and crisis management research: Setting the agenda. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 9(4), 181–188.
19.
HicksA. L.HandcockM. S.SastryN.PebleyA. R. (2018). Sequential neighborhood effects: The effect of long-term exposure to concentrated disadvantage on children’s reading and math test scores. Demography, 55(1), 1–31.
20.
HittD. H.TuckerP. D. (2016). Systematic review of key leader practices found to influence student achievement: A unified framework. Review of Educational Research, 86(2), 531–569.
21.
HonigM. I.RaineyL. R. (2019). Supporting principal supervisors: What really matters?Journal of Educational Administration, 57, 445–462.
HowatH.CurtisN.LandryS.FarmerK.KrollT.DouglassJ. (2012). Lessons from crisis recovery in schools: How hurricanes impacted schools, families and the community. School Leadership and Management, 32(5), 487–501.
24.
KhalifaM. A.GoodenM. A.DavisJ. E. (2016). Culturally responsive school leadership: A synthesis of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1272–1311.
25.
KraftM.SimonN.LyonM. A. (2020). Sustaining a sense of success: The importance of teacher working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ed Working Paper 20-279). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED610252.pdf
26.
KuhfeldM.SolandJ.TarasawaB.JohnsonA.RuzekE.LiuJ. (2020). Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement. Educational Researcher, 49(8), 549–565.
27.
LankfordH.LoebS.WyckoffJ. (2002). Teacher sorting and the plight of urban schools: A descriptive analysis. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(1), 37–62.
LeithwoodK.HarrisA.HopkinsD. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership and Management, 40(1), 5–22.
30.
MasonbrinkA.HurleyE. (2020). Advocating for children during the COVID-19 school closures. Pediatrics, 146(3), 1–4.
31.
MumfordM. D.FriedrichT. L.CaughronJ. J.ByrneC. L. (2007). Leader cognition in real-world settings: How do leaders think about crises?The Leadership Quarterly, 18(6), 515–543.
32.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2020). NCES handbook for survey methods, technical report: Common core of data. Author.
33.
OktariR. S.ShiwakuK.MunadiK.ShawR. (2018). Enhancing community resilience towards disaster: The contributing factors of school-community collaborative network in the tsunami affected area in Aceh. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 29, 3–12.
34.
PressleyT. (2021). Factors contributing to teacher burnout during COVID-19. Educational Researcher, 50(5), 325–327.
35.
RAND. (2020). RAND American educator panels, American school leader panel, 2020 COVID-19 distance learning survey. RAND Corporation.
36.
ReddickC. G.EnriquezR.HarrisR. J.SharmaB. (2020). Determinants of broadband access and affordability: An analysis of a community survey on the digital divide. Cities, 106, 102904.
37.
StenhoffD. M.PenningtonR. C.TappM. C. (2020). Distance education support for students with autism spectrum disorder and complex needs during covid-19 and school closures. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 39(4), 211–219.
38.
SterrettW.RichardsonJ. W. (2020). Supporting professional development through digital principal leadership. Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership, 5(2), 4.
39.
ThessinR. A.LouisK. S. (2019). Supervising school leaders in a rapidly changing world. Journal of Educational Administration, 57, 434–444.
