Mapping the terrain: Educational leadership experiences in K-12 virtual schools

Angela Brugioni

IL–Research about IL

ET–New Trends  

LaFrance, J., Beck, D. (2014). Mapping the terrain: Educational leadership experiences in K-12 virtual schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 50(1), 160-189.

Transformative technology, hyperconnectivity, and the new digital information landscape are a few of many factors contributing to why education and learning is shifting to an online environment and culture. The focus of this article is on how educational leaders are planning for and preparing to meet this change. A history of 21^st century standards development and the qualities needed for leadership for each of these standards is described in the article in order to present a comprehensive foundation and argument for the importance of strong direction and leadership guidance. Terminologies such as virtual or blended, synchronous or asynchronous are also reviewed.

In light of this educational shift towards technology the question arises, are educational leaders prepared and how are they preparing?A review of leadership training programs reveals that “high quality programs must include relevant internship experiences,” but this article specifically considers if and how leadership programs are utilizing virtual field experiences in their training curriculum. Assuming that at some point leaders will be asked to make judgment calls on curriculum involving technology, for example to decide between a virtual or blended learning environment, it seems fair to argue that a variety of experiences is necessary to better prepare leaders to make informed decisions. But of the reporting programs who participated in the study only “nine percent (14/159) of respondents offer some type of field experience in K-12 virtual school settings.” Some reasons why virtual field experiences were not included in programs included the belief that face-to-face experiences were more valuable and that leaders need to develop face-to-face communication tools. 

Though it is challenging to develop training programs and there are relatively few schools that do have virtual learning experiences, many of the reporting schools thought that this type of training is needed and quite a few described working towards developing this curriculum. The schools that do have these programs are considered innovative, and ultimately this is an essential quality in good leadership and education.