A Counternarrative of Urban School Leadership: Internal, Moral, and Market Accountability During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: New Leadership Strains: School Leadership and the COVID Crisis

Abstract

This study examines how urban school principals engaged their teachers to support students and community members when US schools first closed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and external accountability measures were suspended. This interpretive, qualitative inquiry drew from 29 interviews with urban school principals across the country. Findings illustrate a counternarrative of urban school activity, portraying how, in the absence of external accountability pressures, internal, moral, and market accountability informed urban school principals’ expectations for teaching and learning. These findings offer important implications for policymakers to move beyond a harmful preoccupation with external accountability measures in urban public schools.

Authors

• Chantal Francois, Towson University

• Jennie Weiner, University of Connecticut