School Leadership
- 17 hours ago
- 1 min read
My leadership research spans the full pipeline of school governance and administration—from school boards to principals to assistant principals—examining how those who lead schools shape the conditions for teaching and learning. One strand focuses on school boards as governing bodies: my work examines how board members make sense of their roles and responsibilities (Willoughby, Lee, & Crawford-Rossi, 2025) and how they adapted to the turbulence of the pandemic (Crawford, Willoughby, & Lee, in press). A second strand addresses the principalship, including how principals are recruited and selected (Lee & Mao, 2023), the labor market dynamics they navigate in rural contexts (Yang, Lee, & Goff, 2021), and the work-life pressures that shape their leadership (Love & Lee, 2025).
A growing focus of my current work is the assistant principal (AP) labor market—a critical but understudied stage in the leadership pipeline. Supported by a Spencer Foundation Large Research Grant, this line of research examines how assistant principals apply for, are hired into, and advance through leadership positions, with particular attention to assistant principals of color and the ethnoracial dynamics that shape their access to and progression through the pipeline. By centering equity in leadership hiring, this work aims to inform efforts to diversify school leadership and strengthen the pathways that bring leaders of color into the profession.