Date

5-20-2026

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Susan Lovett

Keywords

principal leadership, crisis management, worldwide crisis, resilient organizations

Disciplines

Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of principals who worked to support the recovery of the learning lost by the school's fourth graders from a large, urban school district in Texas. Three centralized research questions guided this study. How did principals describe the lived experience of working to support the normalization of the educational experience so that the learning lost by the school’s fourth graders was recovered? How did principals describe their work as leaders who supported the educational process by developing resilience in the face of crisis? How did principals describe the impact participation in a professional learning community had on their work? The theory guiding this study was Pratt and González-Herrero’s crisis management theory, a communication theory that allows practitioners to deal with reality as they work toward returning to a normal state. The participants were at least 10 principals of schools that served fourth grade students. These participants were interviewed to gain an understanding of their perception of the educational experience before and after the worldwide crisis and to hear their stories of leading a return to normal state. Individual interviews, group discussions, and participants’ letters to their pre-crisis selves were used to collect the principals’ perceptions of their personal experiences and to develop a reflective analysis of their meanings. The exhaustive nature of the closures and the work needed to continue a normalized version of teaching and learning while supporting the campus community presented challenges. Instructional leadership was a challenge during the closures because administrators struggled to overcome the barriers posed by the use of instructional technology. The administrators felt largely unprepared to meet the challenges presented by the closures due to the crisis.

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