Keep Truckin': How Principals Make Sense of the District Infrastructure for Accelerated Learning

• In Event: Possibilities for Leveraging Internal Resources to Shift Professional Practice: Increasing Organizational Capacity to Support Student Learning

Abstract

To recuperate from pandemic shocks, districts launched accelerated learning reforms in Fall 2021. Applying sensemaking theory, we conducted a phenomenological study of principals’ perceptions of district infrastructure for accelerated learning. We interviewed 17 elementary principals in one urban public school district. Our qualitative analyses surfaced how principals construct understandings of infrastructural components as exerting pressure as well as providing support for implementing accelerated learning. These results reveal how curriculum and professional development were, at times, perceived as crushing–or bolstering–principals and activities in their schools. The results on principal sensemaking provide insights on both infrastructure and leadership for accelerated learning, with implications for policymakers and district leaders striving to close gaps and drive organizational change amid rocky conditions.

Authors

• Sarah L. Woulfin, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Christopher P. Brown, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• David E. DeMatthews, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Pedro Reyes, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author