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\nJANUARY 2022  \nAuthors  \nJennifer O’Day  \nAmerican Institutes for Research  \nDale Marsden Tomorrow’s Talent  \nAbout the California Collaborative on District Reform  \nThe California Collaborative on District Reform was formed in 2006 to join researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders in ongoing, evidence-based dialogue to improve instruction and student learning for all students in California’s urban school systems.  \nIntroduction  \nAs soon as the SARS-CoV-2 virus made its presence widely known in early 2020, the surging pandemic became the immediate focus of public sector leaders—and those who would judge them—across the United States. In the nearly 2 years since then, more than 850,000 Americans have died, and elections have literally been won or lost on candidates’ positions and actions in response to COVID-19 .  \nNowhere have the tensions and leadership demands been more visible than in the school systems that serve elementary and secondary school children, their parents, and communities. In this brief, we explore how some California district leaders have responded to the initial and continuing COVID-19 crisis, using the reflections of superintendents in the California Collaborative on District Reform to reveal patterns, themes, and lessons. We also consider the impact that the pandemic and school closures have had on the leaders themselves and the implications of that impact for the future. Finally, we apply the principles of high reliability organizations to suggest how local districts and their leaders might capitalize on the work to date to not only navigate the continuing challenges of the current pandemic and recovery but also prepare for the inevitable crises of the future.  \nAs educators and authors, we approach this task from distinct perspectivesand experiential backgrounds. Dale Marsden served as a district superintendent for 12 years and has led his districts through multiple crises, including a terrorist attack during a local holiday party and a fatal school shooting. Jennifer O’Day is a researcher on systems change and has chaired the California Collaborative on District Reform for the past 15 years. We have drawn on both research and practice on leadership, including focus groups and interviews with system leaders across the state.1  \nLeadership Above and Below the Green Line  \nIn March 2020, McKinsey & Company produced a five-part series advising leaders across multiple spheres on how they should approach their role during the COVID-19 crisis; one of these parts pointed to the importance of practicing “deliberate calm” and “bounded optimism,” an admonition that resonated with district leaders in many of the largest and most complex school systems in the country. A leader who is deliberately calm, the McKinsey authors argued,“keeps energy levels high and positive even in a crisis environment. . . . When a leader is hopeful and calm, the group can face challenges more creatively.” Realistic confidence also is critical:  \nIn a complex situation like the coronavirus pandemic, familiar answers might not work and could even be counterproductive. Early on, leaders can lose credibility by displaying excessive confidence or by providing simple answers to difficult problems in spite of obviously difficult conditions. It is essential to project confidence that the organization will find its way through the crisis but also show that you recognize its severity.2  \nWe can all think of leaders who failed to achieve the critical balance highlighted in this advice.  \nLeadership demeanor, of course, is never sufficient, for any crisis also requires concrete actions to address the interruptions to normal life and meet specific challenges that threaten the well-being of people and their organizations. A few months after McKinsey released their advice to leaders, researchers at the Economic Policy Institute noted the practical","cbCaij3AMMb4qLWg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaij3AMMb4qLWg","pdf",1451905,16,"English","# Introduction\n## Leadership Above and Below the Green Line\n## The Six Circle Model and Leadership Focus","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of this policy and practice brief?\",\"answer\":\"It explores how California district leaders responded to the initial and continuing COVID-19 crisis, identifies patterns and lessons from superintendent reflections, and considers implications for the future.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is “deliberate calm” and “bounded optimism” important in the brief?\",\"answer\":\"The brief highlights guidance suggesting leaders maintain high, positive energy and realistic confidence so groups can face challenges creatively while acknowledging the crisis severity.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the “green line” concept mean for leadership?\",\"answer\":\"The brief explains that leaders must focus both above and below the green line—addressing technical infrastructure (structure, operations, strategies) and human infrastructure (identity, relationships, information flow).\"}]","Policy and Practice Brief - Educational Leadership in Crisis - Reflections From a Pandemic - January 2022 | PDF",1792044426]