COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to schools, leaving principals to lead rapid organizational change with limited guidance or support. Drawing on interviews from a larger, national study of principals at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyzed the experiences of 20 principals in four large, urban school districts—Boston, Denver, New York, and San Diego. We found that principals relied on both district guidance and preexisting school structures and conditions as they led through the crisis. Although no principals were satisfied with district guidance, principals responded to guidance on a spectrum—from abiding, to challenging, to subverting guidance. Principals’ responses were associated with their perceptions of the internal capacities of their schools, as well as the district guidance. Our findings support an emergent typology of principals as middle managers during crisis, which sheds light on how principals act as middle managers and how districts can support their work.

COVID-19 给学校带来了前所未有的挑战，让校长在有限的指导或支持下领导快速的组织变革。在 COVID-19 大流行开始时对校长进行的一项更大规模的全国性研究中进行的采访，我们分析了波士顿、丹佛、纽约和圣地亚哥四个大型城市学区的 20 名校长的经历。我们发现，校长在度过危机时既依赖学区指导，也依赖现有的学校结构和条件。尽管没有校长对学区指导感到满意，但校长们对一系列指导做出了回应——从遵守、挑战到颠覆指导。校长的反应与他们对学校内部能力的看法以及学区指导有关。