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The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that explains structural responses to external organizational shocks. The authors illustrate framework dynamics with one district's secondary schools' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conceptual framework imagines structure as emergent, dynamic and responsive to external pressures, as the authors posited in an earlier publication. From an open systems perspective, the authors focus on restructuring for more effective sensemaking and bridging and buffering.

The framework in this paper shows promise for its descriptive power. Interview participants' recollections of their responses to COVID-19 revealed an emergent structure and displayed evidence of crisis management, sensemaking and bridging and buffering.

The intent of this article, consistent with the special issue, is to propose a set of concepts that, together, shed new light on how researchers and leaders might think about structural adaptations to external influences. The conceptual framework shows promise, but has yet to be put to the test with systematic empirical research.

The conceptual framework the authors develop here may serve to guide empirical research that expands knowledge of how school and district structures adapt to external influences. Viewing structure as supportive of adaptation to changing circumstances also informs preparation for and practice of education leadership.

Capturing school and district leaders' recollections shortly after their schools' return to in-person learning is rare in the literature, and examining their reactions from an open systems perspective sheds new light on leadership under stress.

The dual purpose of this paper is to determine how superintendents in US school districts work with stakeholders in the decision‐making process and to learn how different choices superintendents make affect decision outcomes.

This multiple case study of three school districts employs qualitative methodology to address specific research questions. Interview and observation data are analyzed using data codes applied to text through NVivo8.

The paper finds that superintendents respond to accountability pressure by working with committees in different ways, yet all three tend to achieve the strategic decision outcomes they favor. Despite superintendents' substantial efforts to engage in collaborative strategic decision making, collaboration virtually ends once the decision is made and these districts shift into implementation.

The multiple case study approach employed here is useful for understanding the details of strategic decision making, but the results are specific to the school districts studied. Rather than generalizing from these school districts, researchers could generalize to them based on the degree to which they are typical.

Empirical results reported here fill in gaps in the education leadership literature regarding how decisions are made. The tendency of committees to engage in collaborative processes for their own decision making and to issue directives to the wider school district likely places implementation at risk.

Very few studies of decision making address the process from a real‐time perspective, and the handful that do were not conducted in educational settings. This article examines school district decision making as it occurs.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to articulate the relationship between school leadership and quality core instruction, as defined by a gradual release of responsibility (GRR) framework. The development of a common vocabulary for quality instruction is essential for leaders and teachers to communicate effectively.

Design/Methodology/Approach – This chapter uses vignettes developed from previous studies to illustrate the use of GRR in principal development, instructional leadership in schools, and in professional learning for teachers.

Findings – Instructional leadership in action is enhanced when adults experience GRR as learners themselves. The authors use illustrative examples to highlight how GRR is leveraged to enhance learning.

Research Limitations/Implications – The authors use vignettes to highlight effective practices and believe that they have utility for other programs aimed at preparing instructional leaders.

Practical Implications – GRR principles should be enacted within adult learning, particularly in leadership preparation programs, and in school-based collaborative inquiry processes such as learning walks and professional learning communities.

Originality/Value of Chapter – The authors utilize our experiences as researchers and school leaders to articulate the bridge between leadership development and leadership in practice using GRR as the constant.

Traditionally, management of disasters, particularly those emanating from environmental hazards, have been reactive with efforts focussed on technical response issues. Drawing from incident command system (ICS) theory, this paper proposes a conceptual model for managing marine oil spills in South Africa.

A qualitative biased sequential mixed-based research method was applied for this study. The technical processes undertaken in instituting a incident management system (IMS) for marine oil spills through Operation Phakisa Oil and Gas initiative were observed from November 2016 to November 2019. Preliminary findings were subsequently explored quantitatively in 54 semi-structured questionnaires conducted with experts in the marine pollution environment.

Findings presented in this paper demonstrate an integrative coordination continuum with a stringent focus on coherent multi-stakeholders' incident management collaborations. Qualitative findings stipulated limitations to the efficient application of oil spill risk minimisation policies, especially in the provincial and local spheres of government. Quantitative findings established that some local municipalities have mainstreamed and have budgets for inter-organisational planning and preparedness. Regardless, several informants continue to perceive disaster risk management and offshore-related activities as “unfunded mandates”, especially where response operation and sustainable rehabilitation programmes are concerned.

In integrating the organisational theory and the incident command tools, the value of this study dwells in recommending a conceptual model that mainstreams inter- and intra-organisational planning, preparedness and response to the marine oil spill risk. The model is valuable because it focusses beyond the traditional emergency response tool but is fundamental in effecting adherence to reporting lines, performance standards and information integration.

The collection and dissemination of standardized performance information about students, teachers, schools and school systems offer potentially important tools for school accountability and resource allocation as well as school improvement in developing countries. However, performance monitoring systems in developing countries are in many cases copied from those in high-income countries without a clear understanding of their functioning in contexts of limited resources and capacity for change. The purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions under which and the mechanisms through which system-wide performance monitoring affects school-level organization and processes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The review employs realist synthesis because of the complexity and dynamism of conditions in LMICs, the wide variability in available literature and the aim of explaining how particular organizational outcomes arise, given particular conditions. The authors draw on findings from a systematic review of 22 studies and reports, published since 2001, related to the implementation of performance monitoring.

The findings highlight key barriers to the use of data to inform school accountability and improvement. Capacity to collect, interpret and use data is an important condition to both effective external accountability as well as improvement of schools.

The review uses realist approaches to building middle-level theories to help scholars, educational advisers, policy makers and educational leaders understand the causal processes that result in certain outcomes from monitoring activities and to identify the conditions that are necessary for those processes to have the desired outcomes.

This article addresses the question of the determinants of public policy at the local level. It is particularly concerned with local political leaders' interpretations of given socioeconomic environments, and the bearing these have on public policy formation.