Making Sense of Technological Change in the Post-COVID Era: Digital Leadership and Equitable Learning Opportunities in Colorado’s PK-12 Schools

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed long existing equity gaps in technology access in K12 schools, known as the digital divide. Beginning in early 2020, U.S. schools were forced to halt in-person learning and turn to online synchronous and blended learning models, even though many students in low-income and rural neighborhoods lacked access to internet and computers. This national response, also known as Emergency Remote Education (ERE), was criticized for being inefficient, with most rapid technology changes in schools occurring out of necessity by school administrators, without much time for reflection, professional development training, input from stakeholders, and evaluation of student outcomes. Moreover, technology-enhanced learning has been inconsistently and haphazardly funded at the federal and state levels via relief aid, grants, philanthropic donations, and property tax revenue. Restrictive tax and spending limit laws unique to Colorado have caused the state to feature among the lowest funded schools in the US, necessitating further study as to potential impacts on digital learning. School leaders and information technology (IT) professionals have a responsibility to develop digital leadership competences and consider new technological changes in education to counter learning inequities resulting from the digital divide.

To explore how shared organizational meaning making was constructed from the technological changes resulting from COVID, Robert Stake’s (1995) cross-case study methodology was employed to conduct interviews with 22 school leaders and IT specialists at Colorado PK-12 urban, suburban, and rural schools. Sensemaking theory and the Fullan change model were used as the lens with which to analyze participants’ perceptions and responses to the rapid technological changes resulting from ERE. Through cross-case composite analysis, the main goals of this study were to identify disparities in student access to tech-enhanced education by geographic region resulting from post-pandemic financial and technological barriers as well as discern the needed digital leadership competencies to drive the creation and implementation of technology policy in schools in the post-COVID era. As a result, four major thematic categories emerged from participant responses: concerns over technology sustainability costs and financial expertise to secure additional technology funding weigh heaviest in urban and particularly rural areas; diminished yet persistent geographic-specific disparities in technology access and use continue to exist; varied digital leadership competencies and willingness to embrace change transcends geography; and inconsistent approaches for technology planning and policy remain and cause a lack of direction at the local level. These findings pave the way for new avenues of research, to discover how adequate digital leadership training, school leaders’ willingness to drive change, and collaborative policymaking approaches could potentially reduce the digital divide between the haves and have nots in America’s public schools.