Experiences, perceptions, and belief: A mixed method study of enactment of instructional leadership in a K-12 cyber charter school

K-12 cyber charter schools emerged 15 years ago as a public school option available for students and their families. The rapid growth of charter schools has encouraged innovation and adaptability and facilitated the emergence of new models of schooling; among these are cyber charter schools (Huerta, d\u27Entremont, & Gonzalez, 2006, p. 23). The challenge is no longer whether students and families have an option of school choice, but whether the quality of teaching and learning these schools of choice have to offer will redefine how public school is done. K-12 cyber charter schools have the potential to be innovative and to redefine how schooling is approached, but simply providing students with computers and the Internet is no longer considered innovation, nor is having online classes; the quality of teaching, learning, and leadership matters. Ensuring quality teaching and learning is often the responsibility of the principal and the assistant principal as the instructional leaders. Now that instruction takes place remotely in a school without walls, what does this mean for instructional leadership? This mixed-methods study proposes to explore principals\u27 and assistant principals\u27 enactment in their roles as instructional leaders in a Pennsylvania K-12 cyber charter school. The research questions are: * How do principals and assistant principals enact instructional leadership in a K-12 cyber charter school? 1. How are principals and assistant principals perceived to enact instructional leadership from the perception and belief of the CEO? 2. How do principals and assistant principals experience and describe their roles as instructional leaders in a K-12 cyber charter school? 3. How are principals and assistant principals perceived to enact instructional leadership from the perceptions and beliefs of the teachers? 4. How do the Chief Executive Officer\u27s and the teachers\u27 perceptions of and beliefs about the principal and assistant principal as instructional leaders compare to the principals\u27 experiences and descriptions of their enactment as instructional leaders? Participants consist of K-12 cyber charter school principals, assistant principals, a Chief Executive Officer, and teachers. Qualitative analysis was conducted on data collected from interviews, open-ended survey questions, focus groups, school artifacts, end-of-the-day reflections, and discussion boards. Quantitative analysis was conducted on the teacher surveys. The findings suggest that principals and assistant principals as instructional leaders share both similarities and differences with their colleagues in a brick-and-mortar building as well as instructional leadership practices to improve student achievement. The implications for K-12 cyber charter schools interested in instructional leadership in a K-12 cyber charter school include having an instructional vision of quality instruction for both synchronous and asynchronous instruction and knowing that the virtual context will impact how principals and assistant principals lead