Date of Award

Spring 2026

Language

English

Embargo Period

5-8-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational Policy and Leadership

Program

Educational Policy and Leadership

First Advisor

Kristen C. Wilcox

Committee Members

Kathryn S. Schiller, Francesca T. Durand

Keywords

adaptive leadership, reform implementation, instructional leadership, instructional shift, school accountability, cross-case analysis

Subject Categories

Educational Leadership

Abstract

Educational leaders occupy a difficult position in the landscape of reform, as they are at times charged with initiatives that conflict with existing guidance and core instructional work. Effective change requires more than program redesign; it demands shifts in people’s behavior. For school leaders, the challenge is not simply understanding a new initiative, but making personal sense of it and then communicating it coherently to staff in ways that generate genuine commitment, all while navigating the gap between standard and innovative practice, bridging from policy intent to classroom-level implementation.

In the case of school performance, standardized testing has long anchored educational accountability systems across the United States and internationally, yet decades of research have raised persistent concerns attributed to these high-stakes tests: narrowed curriculum, elevated educator stress, inequitable outcomes, and resistance to instructional innovation. To mitigate the negative effects of overreliance on high-stakes standardized testing, educators have experimented with increased and systematic use of instructional and assessment practices such as portfolio-based assessment, competency frameworks, and performance tasks. However, scaling these efforts has proven difficult for a range of operational and cultural reasons, including, but not limited to, the influence of accountability systems built around standardized measures. The central tension remains unresolved: how do schools pursue meaningful instructional reform when the accountability infrastructure surrounding them remains unchanged?

This study examined reform tension perceived and experienced by educators in New York State’s PLAN Pilot, an initiative inviting schools to shift toward performance-based learning and assessment while continuing to operate under the state’s high-stakes summative testing program that, at the time, simultaneously determined student graduation eligibility and school accountability, and locally were often used towards teacher evaluations. Using Heifetz’s adaptive leadership framework and Dervin’s sensemaking theory, a secondary analysis of the data set from a multiple case study of 17 PLAN Pilot schools examined: (1) how school leaders supported teachers in navigating the PBLA reform effort and existing accountability metrics, (2) how teachers navigated the PBLA reform and existing accountability metrics, and (3) how school contexts differed across PLAN Pilot schools regarding implementing innovative reform.

Findings revealed that, while each school confronted similar innovation-accountability tensions, their capacity to resolve perceived discrepancies varied substantially. Six interrelated contextual characteristics (methods of teacher recruitment into the reform initiative, implementation team leadership models, collegial relationships, variance from existing instructional practices, risk tolerance, and implementation planning) proved collectively determinative rather than merely influential; schools required favorable conditions across an array of dimensions to successfully balance multiple demands. Additionally, how leaders communicated about any perceived discrepancies profoundly shaped teacher stress and reform sustainability, and sensemaking was expressed not only through communication but through providing resources necessary to successfully implement the initiative.

This research contributes empirical evidence about the conditions under which schools can pursue innovation within, rather than despite, entrenched systems, offering practical insights for scaling performance-based assessment initiatives and understanding leadership practices that support teachers navigating multiple reform demands.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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