Pre-Service Principals in a Principal Preparation Program: Leadership Practices as a Response to COVID-19

The COVID 19 pandemic affected individuals and institutions globally, especially schools. As schools temporarily closed, teachers and administrators worked to develop innovative solutions to the problems generated by the crisis. In this qualitative case study, we examined the impact of leadership practices and responses to the COVID 19 pandemic as perceived by the pre-service principals who were enrolled in a university principal preparation program. Forty-four pre-service principals participated in an open-ended survey to identify leadership practices during the pandemic. Pre-service principals, in the findings, identified five main practices they experienced to overcome the pandemic’s challenges: (a) distributing meals for students and their families; (b) issuing learning materials and devices; (c) coordinating online instructions; (d) assisting leadership teams; and (e) leading professional development sessions to integrate the school teams’ experiences. The research team expects that these findings could assist decision makers in creating new leadership strategies to respond to the natural crisis that society is experiencing.