Leading in a Time of Ambitious Reform: Principals in High-Poverty Urban Elementary Schools Frame the Challenge of the Common Core State Standards

Standards are intended to foster excellence and equity in student learning by institutionalizing high expectations for all students while allowing educators to have professional discretion in determining how to meet these goals. Recent studies suggest that principals play an essential role in interpreting and communicating the implications of standards for teachers' practice and creating supportive conditions for professional learning. Using a comparative case study of 3 high-poverty elementary schools, the present study extends this research by examining the specific actions principals take to organize the work of their schools in response to new and higher standards. It argues that principals who frame the challenge presented by standards as one that requires teachers to learn to work with students and content in new ways are more likely to close the gap between existing practice and the goals of policy than those who frame the challenge as one of executing top-down directives.