Neuroscience

Social psychology

Public relations

Psychological resilience

Instructional leadership

Pedagogy

Scope (computer science)

Computer science

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Transformational leadership

Psychology

Leadership studies

Political science

Crisis management

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Sociology

Globe

Educational leadership

Medicine

Programming language

Equity (law)

Pandemic

Leadership style

Disease

Pathology

Frontiers in Education

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly across the globe, many schools struggled to react both quickly and adequately. Schools were one of the most important societal institutions to be affected by the pandemic. However, most school leaders have little to no training in crisis leadership, nor have they dealt with a crisis of this scale and this scope for this long. This article presents our findings from interviews of 43 school organizations around the globe about their responses during the early months of the pandemic. Primary themes from the interviews included an emphasis on vision and values; communication and family community engagement; staff care, instructional leadership, and organizational capacity-building; equity-oriented leadership practices; and recognition of potential future opportunities. These findings resonate with the larger research literature on crisis leadership and have important implications for school leaders’ future mindsets, behaviors, and support structures during crisis incidents.

Resilience, Reorientation, and Reinvention: School Leadership During the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic