Research Report

Principal Leadership in a Virtual Environment

Stefani Pautz Stephenson, Angela Hardy, John Seylar, Jeff Wayman, Vanessa Peters, Melissa Bellin, and Jeremy Roschelle
November 2021 | Digital Promise and the Wallace Foundation

This report from Digital Promise and the Wallace Foundation includes findings from interviews with 11 principals and administrators who speak to how school leaders can ensure that virtual classrooms provide high-quality, equitable education. The authors assert that “powerful learning" comes through three essentials for the digital classroom: meaningful use of technology, inclusive access to it, and the efforts of principals who know how to lead for meaningful use and inclusive access. This report discusses how cultivating leaders who can effectively lead in a virtual context should be part of principal talent-development actions.