Building Community and Advancing Literacy Learning During a Pandemic and Beyond

This is a practitioner research study that examines what it takes to co-create school contexts that support strong school communities and instructional practices. This practitioner inquiry study took a case study approach and looked closely at the relationships cultivated between and among teachers and administrators grappling to advance students’ learning in three elementary schools located in historically marginalized communities in the midst of a pandemic. In the process, I inquired into the strategies, resources and investments made in professional learning to build community and strengthen teacher practice from the vantage point of the principal as well as the classroom teacher. I drew upon a range of data sources including teacher and principal interviews, focus groups, and school artifacts. I kept a reflective journal to document my own thoughts and reflections to better connect my new learning to my current role as an assistant superintendent serving across a similar set of historically marginalized schools. I conclude the study with a discussion of the implications of this work for practitioners, researchers, and policy makers