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According to Keaton (2021), fully virtual schools are schools where "All instruction offered by the school is virtual. This does not exclude students and teachers meeting in person for field trips, school-sponsored social events, or assessment purposes. All students receive all instruction virtually" (para. 4). As with any online education or school environment, there are unique aspects to the teaching-learning environment, as well as the leadership ecosystem. This literature review focuses on the unique aspects of leading virtual schools by school administrators, specifically school administrators (also known as school principals). This literature review excludes superintendents as the intention is to learn about school principal leadership specifically.
Research Methods
This literature review focused only on published, peer-reviewed, empirical studies conducted between 2015-2023.
Research was conducted utilizing the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) EBSCO database, Education Source, and Academic Search Premier online databases. The constant comparative method of analysis (Glaser, 1965) was used to determine inclusion/exclusion of studies in the review. This process involved:
1. comparing incidents applicable to each category,
2. integrating categories and their properties,
3. delimiting the theory, and
4. writing the theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p. 339).
In analyzing the studies, major categories for investigation were identified. Comments related to each category then were analyzed and properties or themes were identified as they emerged. Comments within these themes were grouped together and analyzed for common ideas or properties. These properties were analyzed and the meaning of each theme was summarized with the goal to create a theory based on the comments.
The following search terms were utilized:
· (school administrator) AND (virtual school)
· (school leader) AND (virtual school)
· (school principal) AND (virtual school)
To narrow down the articles for inclusion in the review, each of the entries listed was examined as a result of the search criteria, first by reading their titles and then by reading their abstracts. Articles that did not meet the criteria explicitly were excluded. Those that met the criteria were included. This process ferreted out many studies that did not relate to school leaders in P-12 settings or were not research studies. (Note: The plan is to review studies published through December 2023; therefore, the “final” number of studies that will be included in the paper if accepted for presentation will be updated). Studies with exclusively superintendent participants were excluded from the review.
The over-arching question for this literature review was: “What can we learn from research related to school leaders and virtual schools?”? A part of this process involved grouping the studies into the following categories: 1) methodology type; 2) sample size of population studied; 3) where the study was conducted; and 4) year published. The studies used the following research methodologies: 52.6% qualitative, 10.5% quantitative, and 36.8% mixed methods. The size of the population studied ranged from 3-320, with the average number of participants being 109 (though 3 studies did not specify the number of participants, or opted to include the number of schools instead). Participants in the studies were typically school leaders including principals and administrators, teachers, or district officials, with some studies employing multiple.
Deeper analyses of the studies selected for examination illustrated that they primarily concentrated on 6 major themes (see Table 1):
Professional Development (73.7%) — increased support for principals, specialized training for virtual environments, skill set needed to be an effective virtual school leader
Principal-Teacher Communication (63.2%) — collaboration between leaders and teachers, additional training for technology systems, approaches to evaluations
Challenges (47.4%) — connecting with parents and students, lack of consistency between schools, learning accommodations, insufficient ICT training, collaboration within school staff
Policy/Governmental Action (47.4%) — new policies are needed to support virtual schools, including those related to funding, professional development, and further collaboration between school districts and the government
Student Support (31.6%)— flexibility with technology implementation, psychological support, removing barriers
Expanding Access/Digital Divide (10.5%) — flexible learning environments and effective e-leadership may allow for expanded access to education
The majority of the studies (95%) included elements found in several categories. Each of these categories will be introduced in the full paper if accepted, in addition to a table with the references for all of the studies included in the review. This review demonstrated that the majority of research conducted on school leaders and virtual schools focused on the need for improved professional development and support for virtual school leaders.
Nearly 69% of the studies were conducted after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting an increase of interest in this area after the nationwide transition to virtual schools, and even now, when most have returned to standard in-person operations.
The majority of the studies (73.7%) contained information related to professional development. The research found that school leaders described being unprepared as they took on new roles as virtual leaders, and teachers expressed similar sentiments. These studies demonstrated the theme that increased support and preparation for both school leaders and instructors involved in virtual education is needed.
Moreover, the review tended to examine the challenges of virtual education on all stakeholders and the potential for policymaking in this area. The studies noted issues including but limited to a lack of ICT training and knowledge, technology failures, and struggles to connect with teachers/students/parents. In order to improve virtual schools and establish support for future institutions, collaboration will need to occur between school leaders, other school staff, districts, and government officials.
Understanding e-leadership in education is essential to ensuring the effectiveness of virtual schools. This research may assist with policymaking when it comes to supporting school leaders and other staff, in addition to understanding and addressing the challenges of virtual learning.
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