Sensemaking and Crisis Communication: How School Leaders Communicate in Times of Crisis

Through a basic qualitative interpretive design, I interviewed 10 school leaders from around the United States who led their school through one or more crisis events. The crises were significant enough to disrupt the school day, gain the attention of the media, and/or displace the entire school community. The data from the semi-structured interviews, as well as an analysis of division level policy resulted in five themes: School leaders relied on experience, emotion, and/or policy to make sense of the crisis; Policies and relationships framed what and how school leaders communicated during the crisis; Lack of coordination strained communication efforts and recovery time; The school leaders’ dispositional and relational attributes impacted the effectiveness of their crisis communication; Policies lack direct consideration and practice/drills for crisis communication.The findings of this study support the need for comprehensive crisis communication plans in PK-12 public school systems in the United States. The findings also support increased collaboration between the school division and the school buildings, as well as increased collaboration between school divisions and outside agencies. The role of the school leader in crisis proved crucial to both crisis response and crisis communication.

Author

• Grasser, Kara

Language

• en

Keyword

• School crisis communication
• Crisis Leadership
• School crisis
• Crisis Communication
• Crisis
• School crisis leadership

Date created

• 2022

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Educational Administration & Policy Studies

Degree

• Ed.D.

Advisor

• Tekleselassie, Abebayehu

Committee Member(s)

• Brent, Eric
• Nganga, Christine

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/jw827c661