A Critical Conversation About Mindfulness for School Leadership

Introduction

Over the last decade, the pressures of the principalship have increased due to growing accountability measures associated with teacher and student performance (Wells, 2013; West et al., 2014, Wilson, 2021). Adding to the responsibilities of school administrators is the challenge of improving chronically low-performing schools or maintaining school performance at a satisfactory level. There are millions of students attending thousands of failing schools in the U.S., making it urgent to lessen the achievement gap (Fisher et al., 2011). Even prior to the pandemic, many students of color experienced barriers to educational opportunities; however, such disparities have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The novel COVID-19 global pandemic has magnified the racial, social, and economic inequities amongst students throughout the United States (Wilson, 2021).

Adding to the implications of the pandemic is the role of school administrators. School leaders' roles have dramatically morphed due to the COVID-19 crisis. Sudden shifts in response to this crisis have left school leaders in “triage-like” conditions, with either no playbook or a minimal one, to mitigate the challenges of leading schools. As seen across the United States, the pandemic resulted in abrupt school closures coupled with expedited transitions to online learning. Discussions in emerging literature indicate that such abrupt conversions from brick-and-mortar schooling to solely online modalities of learning will negatively impact educational outcomes. A recent study by the Annenburg Institute for School Reform projected that learning loss due to COVID-19 would “result in students likely returning in fall 2020 with approximately 63-68% of the learning gains in reading and with 37-50% of the learning gains in math relative to a typical school year (Wilson, 2021).”

In addition to the unfinished learning during the 2019 – 2020 school year, mental health challenges experienced by children and adolescents also increased. According to a 2020 Gallup poll, nearly three in ten parents surveyed indicated that their child was experiencing a level of “harm to their emotional or mental health, with 45% citing the separation from teachers and classmates as a major concern” (Calderon, 2020). Although most schools across the nation reopened their doors the following academic year, the impact of mental health challenges continues to linger. Unfortunately, due to logistical constraints, a workforce shortage, and uncertain budgets, resource disparities have left some districts unable to provide students with the needed mental health services. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), approximately 70% of school leaders indicated that they could not meet their students' mental health needs due to staff shortages (NAESP, 2021).