Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Educational scholars are currently directing attention toward the role of educational organizations in maintaining or disrupting the forces and consequences of racism. The institutional logics perspective has utility for studying how deep-seated and taken-for-granted ideas influence the structures, policies, and practices of educational systems. However, there has been strikingly little attention to the ways institutional logics are shaped by dominant racial ideologies. Extending Ray's racialized organizations framework, this conceptual essay develops the racialized institutional logics perspective. We demonstrate how societal and field-specific institutional logics are undergirded by dominant racial frames that center whiteness and evade consideration of systemic racism. As a result, individuals are more likely to access, frame, interpret, and enact logics in ways that reinforce racial inequities. We argue that the racialized institutional logics perspective illuminates how institutional logics are racial structures that enable certain forms of agency while constraining others. We discuss how researchers, policymakers, and educational leaders can apply the racialized logics lens to understand and ultimately advance efforts to dismantle racial inequities in schools.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Inclusive education is vital for the rights of all children to education to be met and teacher aides are key players in inclusive education efforts. But inclusive education policy aspirations, like other policies, often fail to be fully realised. In this article we focus on the inclusion of teacher aides in educational networks and the extent to which both teacher aides and teachers can access, borrow, and leverage each other's resources. Our investigation drew on social capital theory and social network analysis to provide insights into this aspect of inclusive education. We administered a social network survey to 701 educators in two communities of learning—comprising four and eight schools respectively. Our analysis involved whole network statistics, analysis of TA-inclusive dyads, centrality measures, statistical tests of the centrality measures, core-periphery analyses, and sociograms. We found that patterns of relational activity between TAs and other educators were low; connections (of any kind) were infrequent. While teacher aides were accessible to others from a network perspective, people did not directly access them. They were, despite policy aspirations to the contrary, rarely considered valued sources of knowledge and expertise or identified as collaborators. In most schools, teacher aides were on the periphery of the network. It is clear that ambitious and well-intentioned inclusive education policies are not yet working as intended. We argue for the vital contribution of the relational space—the relational ties amongst teachers and teacher aides­— to realizing inclusive education goals. In turn, we argue for educational leadership focused on belonging and inclusion not only for students, but also for all of the adults who support inclusive education aspirations in school communities.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Purpose: We describe urban school principals’ time use, including their time allocation across work tasks and locations, and how time use varies by school context. Research Method: Trained observers recorded leaders’ time use in five-minute increments over full school days in four urban school districts. The full sample included approximately 650 daylong observations. We employed descriptive methods and linear regression to describe patterns in time use within and across districts. Findings: Patterns in typical time use were surprisingly similar across districts. The average principal spent nearly a quarter of the workday on administrative tasks, crowding out time on instruction, relationships, and other task domains. Time allocations were fragmented, with frequent task-switching throughout the day. Principals spent more time in their offices than anywhere else and nearly half their days working alone, on average. Principals also spent an unexpectedly high proportion of their days (nearly 20%) in the presence of students. Principals at higher-achieving schools spent more time on relationships, and time spent on safety and discipline was positively associated with the share of Black students in a school. Implications: Our study echoes some themes established in studies of principal time use five decades ago. Despite calls for school leaders to reorient their work towards classroom instruction, urban principals’ time on administration and alone in their offices remains high, their time on instruction is limited, and their time continues to be fragmented. These conclusions hold across district settings. Substantial reallocation of principal time in urban schools likely takes investing in both structural changes and tools to help principals disrupt well-established time investment patterns. At the same time, context matters, and time use differences across schools with different characteristics suggest a need to prepare and support principals to meet diverse time demands at different schools even within the same district.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Volume 61, Issue 1, Page 148-154, February 2025.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Purpose: The COVID pandemic brought heightened attention to students’ socioemotional needs and wellbeing in school, sparking a wide variety of changes from individual teachers’ innovations to district-wide initiatives. This study uses the context of SEL-related changes post-pandemic to explore the ways teachers and leaders engaged in sensemaking and sensegiving in the process of making change. Methods: This study draws on 17 semi-structured interviews with educators in Maine, including 7 classroom teachers and 4 school and district leaders from across the state, and 6 teachers and leaders in a single school. Data analysis involved thematic coding, then code refinement based on the sensegiving literature and through cross-case comparisons across the three groups of participants. Findings: Findings illustrate the puzzles of congruence and coordination in the process of making school changes. Teachers tended to make sense of their SEL changes in ways that privileged congruence with prior beliefs but deemphasized coordination with colleagues. Leaders attempted to engage in purposeful sensegiving to strike a balance—emphasizing both the familiarity and newness of changes, the need to work in unison and the value of professional autonomy. Findings suggest that different frames about SEL, from a developmental logic to a best practice logic, played an important role in how teachers and leaders navigated these puzzles. Implications: This study sheds light on the role of sensegiving in leading change, including the way sensegiving can intervene in teacher sensemaking about congruence and coordination, and the potential implications of relying on different frames.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Purpose: Using relationality and relational accountability as both a conceptual and methodological framework, this study explored the leadership practices of educational leaders in a community that a Wampanoag Tribe has called home for 12,000 plus years. It asked if and how leaders were exercising relationality and relational accountability in their engagement practices with Wampanoag and other Indigenous families and community members. Research Methods: Drawing from an exploratory case study that included 30 participants, 10 months of participant observation, 45 semi-structured conversations and interviews, and two talking circles, this article shares findings from observations, conversations, and interviews with six school and district leaders and five Indigenous parents and community leaders. Wilson's (2008) Intuitive logic and Braun's and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis were used to identify the results that are presented in this article. Findings: Town and school history have been major barriers to building trusting and accountable relationships with Wampanoag families. Leaders nonetheless hoped to build relationships by creating opportunities for families to engage for what they called “community purposes” and through “open” and “reciprocal” communication. A newly formed Tribe-District Partnership held the most promise for building trusting and accountable relationships with Tribal members. Implications of Research and Practice: Relationality and relational accountability are powerful Indigenous protocols with the potential of disrupting colonial leadership practices that have perpetuated legacies of Indigenous erasure. Leadership towards relationality and relational accountability positions educational leaders to support Indigenous communities in their efforts to revitalize and sustain what legacies of colonization and colonial schools have disrupted.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Purpose: In this paper we investigate school district staffing challenges during the 2021–22 school year, the second school year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research Methods/Approach: We use novel data from Washington state collected by scraping websites for job postings during the 2021–22 school year; the districts represented in the study serve more than 98% of students in the state. We analyze these data using descriptive and regression analyses. Findings: There was considerable variation in staffing challenges across position types and throughout the year with postings per student tending to be higher in rural districts and districts serving larger populations of disadvantaged students. In Fall 2021, when postings likely signal vacancies at the outset of the 2021–22 school year, the data suggest that districts faced considerable challenges filling paraeducator and, to a lesser extent, teaching positions at the beginning of the school year. In the case of teachers, there is also heterogeneity in the postings per FTE across different teacher content areas. For instance, there are far more postings per FTE for special education teacher positions than elementary education positions. In Spring and Summer 2022, when postings likely signal anticipated staffing needs for the 2022–23 school year, districts with growing enrollments and that received more ESSER funding were more likely to have more postings.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
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.

Educational Administration Quarterly, Ahead of Print.
Purpose: In this mixed methods study, we delve into the complex realm of perceptions of critical race theory (CRT) in the United States. The public perspective of CRT has implications for K12 education, particularly as it relates to teaching literature and social studies. In our investigation, we focus on school district superintendents’ perception of the impact on schools and education. Research Approach: Using quantitative (a Likert-type survey with open-ended items) and qualitative instruments (a semi-structured interview protocol), the study aims to unravel superintendents’ awareness, views, and understanding of CRT. Findings: Data revealed a range of superintendent perceived familiarity levels, with some leaders possessing an in-depth understanding of CRT while others are less acquainted. Concerns surrounding the potential divisiveness, politicization, and suitability for CRT in K12 settings emerged as significant themes. Implications: The research underscores the need for professional development and reliable information to enhance educational leaders’ comprehension of CRT. It also highlights the importance of approaching CRT cautiously in light of its complex and contested nature. The study advocates for inclusive and accurate history education and recommends effective integration of CRT, leader preparation, and policy implications. The recommendations consider the intricate landscape of CRT in K-12 educational leadership. It emphasizes the significance of promoting inclusive environments to address racial disparities and promote equitable learning.