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How Elementary School Principals Made Sense of Supporting Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Teachers: A Case Study in Texas

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Title: How Elementary School Principals Made Sense of Supporting Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Teachers: A Case Study in Texas
Language: English
Authors: Christopher Pierce Brown (ORCID 0000-0002-0076-9683), Lauren C. McKenzie
Source: Early Childhood Education Journal. 2026 54(1):345-356.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Preschool Education
Elementary Education
Kindergarten
Primary Education
Descriptors: Principals, Preschool Education, Kindergarten, Preschool Teachers, Teaching Conditions, Administrator Role, Educational Needs, Elementary Schools
Geographic Terms: Texas
DOI: 10.1007/s10643-024-01820-8
ISSN: 1082-3301
1573-1707
Abstract: As prekindergarten and kindergarten (PreK/K) programs continue to expand into public elementary schools, a key actor in this process of integration and alignment is the school principal. While there is a growing body of scholarship that examines how principals integrate and align these programs with the later grades of elementary school, little is known about how principals identify the support prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers need to be successful in educating and preparing their students for school success; such information can provide insight into principals' understanding of the work PreK/K teachers are doing daily in their classrooms. This case study examines this issue by investigating how a sample of elementary school principals in Texas made sense of the support PreK/K teachers require to be successful in their positions. Such findings reveal principals' sensemaking of PreK/K teachers and their programs. These findings also illuminate what principals and their teachers might need from district and state administrators to lead these programs more effectively so that all students can begin their academic careers on a trajectory to thrive in elementary school.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1503800
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0191072493;5mx01jan.26;2026Jan27.05:19;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0191072493-1">How Elementary School Principals made Sense of Supporting Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Teachers: A Case Study in Texas </title> <p>As prekindergarten and kindergarten (PreK/K) programs continue to expand into public elementary schools, a key actor in this process of integration and alignment is the school principal. While there is a growing body of scholarship that examines how principals integrate and align these programs with the later grades of elementary school, little is known about how principals identify the support prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers need to be successful in educating and preparing their students for school success; such information can provide insight into principals' understanding of the work PreK/K teachers are doing daily in their classrooms. This case study examines this issue by investigating how a sample of elementary school principals in Texas made sense of the support PreK/K teachers require to be successful in their positions. Such findings reveal principals' sensemaking of PreK/K teachers and their programs. These findings also illuminate what principals and their teachers might need from district and state administrators to lead these programs more effectively so that all students can begin their academic careers on a trajectory to thrive in elementary school.</p> <p>Keywords: Principals; Prekindergarten; Kindergarten; Teacher support; Case study; Sensemaking; Education Curriculum and Pedagogy Specialist Studies In Education</p> <p>Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.</p> <p>Early childhood education (ECE) advocates in the United States continue to push for the expansion of publicly funded ECE programs, like prekindergarten (PreK), into the nation's public-school systems (Friedman-Krauss et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref1">24</reflink>]). Yet, the inclusion of these programs in elementary schools can be challenging (Brown & Gasko, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref2">9</reflink>]). A key actor to ensuring the incorporation of programs like PreK and kindergarten (K) into elementary schools is the principal (Leithwood et al., [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref3">38</reflink>]). Recent research has highlighted how their leadership frames the goals of these programs, supports the PreK/K teachers overseeing them, and creates the conditions for PreK/K teachers to prepare children for school success (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref4">8</reflink>]; Kauerz et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref5">36</reflink>]; Stein & Coburn, [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref6">62</reflink>]). Because of this, there is a growing interest in how elementary school principals make sense of their role in leading their ECE programs and aligning them with the later grade levels (Brown [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref7">8</reflink>]; Drake et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref8">20</reflink>]; Little et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref9">41</reflink>]).</p> <p>Yet, little is known about the support principals identify PreK/K teachers needing to be successful in educating and preparing their students for the later grades; grades, like third, where students' academic achievement scores grow in importance both for them and for school personnel (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref10">12</reflink>]). This is significant because examining their sensemaking of the support PreK/K teachers require provides insight into their understanding of what PreK/K teachers are doing daily in their classrooms. Furthermore, it illuminates principals' understandings of the early years of elementary school, which impact children's immediate growth as leaners and as members of a classroom community, their future performance on academic measures in later grades, and their success as adults (Collie et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref11">18</reflink>]; Guhn et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref12">30</reflink>]; Horm et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref13">35</reflink>]; Jones et al., 2015; McCoy et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref14">43</reflink>]).</p> <p>To address this gap in the research literature, we engaged in a case study (Yin, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref15">68</reflink>]) to examine how a sample of elementary school principals in Texas made sense of the support PreK and K teachers need to be successful in their positions within public elementary schools. Understanding how these principals understand the support their PreK/K teachers require not only reveals their sensemaking of these teachers and their programs, but it also illuminates what they and their teachers might need from district and state administrators to lead these programs more effectively.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-2">Theoretical Perspective</hd> <p>For this case study, we employed the lens of sensemaking (Coburn, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref16">16</reflink>]). Principals' sensemaking of their role in supporting their PreK/K teachers is "generally understood to be the cognitive act of taking in information, framing it, and using it to determine actions and behaviors in a way that manages meaning for individuals" (Evans, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref17">22</reflink>], p. 161). This continuous, interactive, and dynamic process is one in which principals cognitively and emotionally make meaning of the world around them through their prior knowledge and experiences leading PreK/K, their social relations with their school staff and others, the school context in which they operate, and their future goals (Reid, [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref18">52</reflink>]; Spillane et al., [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref19">58</reflink>]). Principals' mental models of what it means to support their PreK/K teachers "act as filters" through which they make decisions about how to organize their schools, how to respond to district and state administrators' demands, what PreK/K children should be taught, and how they should be taught, and how they will determine success in each of these aspects of schooling (Bertrand & Marsh, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref20">3</reflink>], p. 866). Thus, how principals make sense of what it means to support their PreK/K teachers impacts how they interact with and lead these teachers instructionally (Ganon-Shilon & Schechter, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref21">25</reflink>]; Rigby, [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref22">53</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-3">Principals Leading PreK and K Teachers</hd> <p>How principals lead PreK and K matters (e.g., Leithwood et al., [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref23">38</reflink>]). For example, how they view these programs and their role within their school affects the inclusion and alignment of PreK/K with the later grades (Brown & Gasko, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref24">9</reflink>]; Cohen-Vogel et al., [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref25">17</reflink>]; Garrity et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref26">26</reflink>]). Yet, PreK programs are not always part of elementary schools. For example, in states like North Carolina (NC) and Georgia, some PreK programs are located in preschool centers rather than elementary schools (Friedman-Krauss et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref27">24</reflink>]). By not having PreK programs housed within elementary schools, Cohen-Vogel et al. ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref28">17</reflink>]) found in rural NC communities that this situation can result in misalignment issues for elementary school principals because they know "very little about PreK and student experiences there," which also can lead to principals making little effort "to connect their kindergarten teachers with PreK teachers" (p. 40). Little et al. ([<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref29">41</reflink>]), who also studied PreK in NC, found that this can also lead to principals questioning whether PreK was "a justified part of their formal scope of responsibility" (p. 7).</p> <p>Unlike NC and Georgia, PreK in Texas is almost exclusively housed in local elementary schools (Smith et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref30">57</reflink>]). When studying similar programs in California, Stein and Coburn ([<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref31">62</reflink>]) found that how school districts govern their PreK programs impacts how principals prioritize and lead their programs. For example, they determined that principals identified their role in leading PreK in relation to how these programs are prioritized both programmatically (e.g., having professional development in ECE for principals) and administratively (e.g., which department within the district oversees the early years).</p> <p>Regarding kindergarten, few have recently examined the issues principals face in leading these programs in the United States. Much of this empirical work centers on how kindergarten has changed as result of what Hatch ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref32">31</reflink>]) termed "accountability shovedown,"and what this means for kindergarteners and their teachers (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref33">7</reflink>]; Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref34">11</reflink>]; Bassok et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref35">2</reflink>]; Engel et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref36">21</reflink>]). This academicization of kindergarten has led to principals wanting to ensure all children are successful as they enter PreK and/or K (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref37">13</reflink>]). However, Brown ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref38">8</reflink>]) found that principals in Texas and West Virginia struggled with envisioning how to support K teachers with engaging in early childhood-based instructional practices and finding the time to lead these programs because of the pressure to ensure teachers in the testing grades attended to district and state policymakers' demands for increased academic achievement. This is disconcerting because, as Yin et al. ([<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref39">69</reflink>]) found, "when [kindergarten] teachers receive more pedagogical support from principals, they are more willing to learn and reinvent practices" rooted in a developmental understanding of how children learn and develop (p. 564); such practices are correlated with improving children's interest in reading and mathematics while ensuring they perform at the same or a higher-level than students taught through teacher-directed learning experiences (Lerkkanen et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref40">39</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref41">40</reflink>]; Skene et al., [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref42">56</reflink>]).</p> <p>Thus, principals must create supportive and trustful professional environments that align PreK/K with the later grades so that teachers will engage in high-quality learning experiences with students throughout their time in elementary school (Schaack et al., [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref43">54</reflink>]; Yin et al., [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref44">69</reflink>]). This is challenging for principals due to the demands of their job (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref45">7</reflink>]; Ford et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref46">23</reflink>]) and often a lack of training in how children develop and learn (Talan & Magid [<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref47">63</reflink>]) or experience in teaching the early grades (Hallissey, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref48">32</reflink>]). Furthermore, such issues as staffing, can impact principals' decision-making (Goldring et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref49">27</reflink>]). In states such as Texas, lower-performing teachers are often placed in the early grades because state-mandated academic achievement tests for students are administered much later (e.g., Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref50">13</reflink>]). As result, principals may strategically staff high-performing teachers in the testing grades to increase the likelihood students are better prepared for high-stakes exams, but reassigning "low-performing elementary teachers to early grades results in reduced student achievement gains in those classrooms in both math and reading as measured by a low-stakes assessment" (Grissom et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref51">29</reflink>], p. 1110).</p> <p>Still, in the face of all these challenges, part of principals' leadership and decision-making about PreK/K requires that they recognize what PreK/K teachers need to create learning environments that support the growth and development of their students (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref52">5</reflink>]). Examining how principals make sense of this issue provides the opportunity to consider their understanding of these programs, and what they and their teachers might need from district and state administrators to lead these programs more effectively.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-4">Methodology and Methods</hd> <p>Yin ([<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref53">68</reflink>]) noted that case studies investigate contemporary phenomena within their real-life context, and our case study examines a sample of elementary school principals in Texas (<emph>N</emph> = 14) who oversee PreK/K programs within their schools. Specifically, in this paper, we answer the following research question: How did a sample of principals in Texas make sense of the support PreK/K teachers need to be successful in their positions within public elementary schools?</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-5">Context</hd> <p>Established in 1985, Texas has one of the nation's oldest elementary school-based PreK programs. Texas has more students enrolled in public school PreK than any other state (Friedman-Krauss et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref54">24</reflink>]). Districts with 15 or more eligible four-year-old children must offer PreK as a full-day program. Policymakers deem children eligible for both programs if they meet at least one of the following criteria: they receive free or reduced-price lunch, they are homeless or in foster care, they have an active military parent or a parent injured/killed on active duty, they are unable to speak or comprehend English, and/or they have a parent eligible for the Star of Texas Award, which is given to state employees who are seriously injured or killed in the line of duty (Texas Education Code Chap. 29, Subchapter E, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref55">64</reflink>]). K is universally available to all Texas five-year-olds.</p> <p>As for financing these programs, PreK for four-year-olds and kindergarten, like their first through grade 12 counterparts, are funded by the Foundation School Program. Yet, PreK, which is required to be offered as a full-day program, only receives half the rate of funding allotted for K-12 classrooms based on average daily attendance. The state requires individual school districts to use other funding sources such as state grant funding, federal funding, local district funding, or, in some cases, tuition from non-qualifying students to fully fund the mandated full-day PreK programs (Texas Education Agency, [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref56">65</reflink>]).</p> <p>Additionally, in Texas, the mandated teacher-to-student ratio is one teacher to 22 students, which includes PreK and K. Moreover, state-mandated assessments of public-school students' academic achievement begin in PreK; every school district must assess their PreK through Grade 1 students' emergent literacy skills three times a year using a state-approved standardized assessment measure. District personnel use students' scores on these tests to evaluate teacher and school administrator effectiveness. Students who perform poorly across the school year are typically provided various literacy interventions to support their growth and development. As students enter third grade, they begin taking the STAAR exam, which state policymakers attached high stakes to for students, teachers, and schools. Students' STAAR scores in Grades 5 and 8 are employed by school staff to determine grade promotion. In high school, a series of end-of-course exams determine high school completion. A statewide ranking system determines whether students in schools and districts have attained an acceptable level of progress in academic achievement. If not, a series of mandated interventions and sanctions are triggered, which can lead to the closure or reconstitution of schools and the replacement of district administrators.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-6">Data Collection</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191072493-7">Participants</hd> <p>This study's 14 elementary school principals represent urban, suburban, and rural schools in Texas that vary in performance rankings given by the Texas Education Agency (see Table 1). Ten of the 14 principals were selected for participation through a partnership with district administrators in a large urban school district (LUD) for a more extensive study that examined how school principals made sense of and were addressing the impact of COVID-19 on their special education, early literacy, and early childhood programs. The district provided access to 25 principals who oversaw schools with differing experience levels and led schools with different state-assigned accountability ratings. Only 10 of the 25 elementary school principals completed both sets of interviews. The remaining four principals were a convenience sample selected from a cohort of principals enrolled in courses to attain their superintendent's license at a university within Texas (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref57">13</reflink>]). We included these principals to confirm the interpretations of the LUD principals as well as to increase the dependability of our findings (Hays & Singh, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref58">33</reflink>]). All 14 of these leaders completed their principal training and certification requirements in Texas, which does not require child development or ECE training.</p> <p>Table 1 The principals</p> <p> <ephtml> <table rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" colspan="22"><p><italic>Non-LUD Principals</italic></p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pseudonym</p><p>Principal...</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Student Achievement</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Overall Performance</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>School Size</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>ECE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>White</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>African-American</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Hispanic</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Asian</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Other</p></td><td align="left"><p>Economically Disadvantaged</p></td><td align="left"><p>Limited English Proficiency</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>De León (LUD)</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 400</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>2%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>19%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>78%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>0%</p></td><td align="left"><p>97%</p></td><td align="left"><p>49%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Rodríguez (LUD)</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>F</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 550</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>20%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>17%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>59%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left"><p>55%</p></td><td align="left"><p>40%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Salinas (RurD)</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>D</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>F</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 525</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Kinder</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>30%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>68%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>0%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left"><p>98%</p></td><td align="left"><p>49%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Wayne (SubD)</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 400</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>17%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>78%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left"><p>80%</p></td><td align="left"><p>30%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="22"><p><bold><underline>LUD Principals</underline></bold></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Pseudonym</p><p>Principal...</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Student Achievement</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Overall Performance</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>School Size</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>ECE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>White</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>African-American</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Hispanic</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Asian</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Other</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Economically Disadvantaged</p></td><td align="left"><p>Limited English Proficiency</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Black</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 900</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>64%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>19%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>7%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>6%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>14%</p></td><td align="left"><p>10%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Earle</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 750</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>63%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>2%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>18%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>11%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>5%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>7%</p></td><td align="left"><p>6%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Griner</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 550</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>4%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>23%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>71%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>93%</p></td><td align="left"><p>60%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Gunn</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>B</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 400</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Kinder</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>65%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>18%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>8%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>6%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>22%</p></td><td align="left"><p>8%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Isbell</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>B</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 575</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>41%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>4%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>42%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>5%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>8%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>33%</p></td><td align="left"><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Lopez</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>B</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 375</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Kinder/ ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>93%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>2%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>94%</p></td><td align="left"><p>80%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Morales</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>F</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>D</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 600</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/Pre-K</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>75%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>20%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>45%</p></td><td align="left"><p>3%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Russo</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 325</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/ ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>30%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>7%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>55%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>1%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>7%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>61%</p></td><td align="left"><p>18%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Walsh</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 600</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>40%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>8%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>44%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>2%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>6%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>45%</p></td><td align="left"><p>27%</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Young</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>A</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>C</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>About 475</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>Pre-K/ECSE</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>62%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>25%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>3%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>7%</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>22%</p></td><td align="left"><p>5%</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Note. LUD = large urban district; RurD = rural district; SubD = suburban district; Pre-K = prekindergarten; ECSE = early childhood special education</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-8">Interviews</hd> <p>To obtain evidence about principals' sensemaking of the support PreK/ K teachers require to be successful in their positions within public elementary schools, we conducted two semi-structured interviews with each of the LUD principals and one interview with the Non-LUD principals (Yin, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref59">68</reflink>]). Given the limitations imposed on researchers by school districts because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we interviewed each principal individually via Zoom (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref60">13</reflink>]). The interviews took place during the 2021–22 school year. Interviews were semi-structured and lasted approximately 35 to 60 min (Thomas, [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref61">61</reflink>]). In these interviews, principals were asked such questions as: Describe your role in supporting the PreK/K programs within your school/district in accomplishing the goals?; Where do these programs 'fit' within your leadership priorities? How would you define your leadership style overall?; What do you see being your biggest challenges in supporting PreK/K teachers (e.g., time, curricular/assessment demands, knowledge of early childhood, etc.)? What type of support do PreK/K teachers need to be successful in their positions within your school? What type of training would you like about the learning and development of young children and working with early education teachers? What type of support might you need from the district and/or state in terms of learning how to become a more effective leader of PreK/K programs (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref62">13</reflink>])?</p> <p>In addition to the interview data, we collected artifacts describing each district's early education priorities for analysis (e.g., district websites), and we recorded our thoughts, hunches, and insights in analytic memos following each interview and during data analysis (Maxwell, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref63">44</reflink>]). We employed these documents to support and confirm the findings presented in this article (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref64">45</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-9">Data Analysis</hd> <p>We analyzed the data using traditional qualitative methods (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref65">45</reflink>]). The lead author first coded the data deductively and inductively to reduce data to the central ideas guiding this study, which centered on how these principals made sense of the support PreK/K teachers need to be successful (Miles et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref66">46</reflink>], p. 74). Next, the lead author went through a second analysis cycle to read the coded data "again and again... comparing each element... with all the other elements" (Thomas, [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref67">61</reflink>], p. 225).</p> <p>Through this constant-comparative method, which we have employed in our other work (e.g., Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref68">14</reflink>]), the lead author generated an initial set of categories that represented the author's process of "making inferences, developing models, or generating theory" the data (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref69">45</reflink>], p. 215). Some of these categories included: the support PreK/K teachers need to succeed in the classroom, the challenges PreK/K teachers face, and ways to address these challenges. The lead author then shared this initial set of categories with the research team, who read the categories against the data in search of contradictory evidence and refined them through further analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref70">45</reflink>]; Miles et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref71">46</reflink>]). This initial set of categories was then transformed into two categories addressing the research question: a lack of instructional and structural support for PreK/K teachers and improving teacher morale (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref72">45</reflink>]; Yin, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref73">68</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-10">Limitations and Trustworthiness</hd> <p>Because we sought "to understand the particular in-depth" how these principals' sensemaking of how to support PreK and K teachers, we engaged in a qualitative case study that employed a "small, nonrandom, purposeful sample" (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref74">45</reflink>], p. 257). In doing so, we wanted to address the complexity of what it means to be a school leader (Ford et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref75">23</reflink>]; Thomas, [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref76">61</reflink>]). By choosing this approach, we understand that principals from different states that have varying histories and policies regarding PreK and K and collecting other data sources might have produced different results (Stake, [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref77">59</reflink>]; Yin, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref78">68</reflink>]).</p> <p>To enhance the trustworthiness of this article, we used several strategies found in qualitative studies (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref79">45</reflink>]; Stake, [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref80">59</reflink>]): member checking, triangulation, peer debriefing, and reflexivity (Hays & Singh, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref81">33</reflink>]; Holmes, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref82">34</reflink>]). We conducted member checks by sharing a draft of the various pieces we generated from this study with the 14 principals (e.g., Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref83">13</reflink>]), and we received many positive comments about our work.</p> <p>Regarding our positionality, we were mindful of our perspectives, positions of power, sociocultural identities and histories, and biases we brought to this study (Merriam & Tisdell, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref84">45</reflink>]; Milner, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref85">47</reflink>]). At one point, we were classroom teachers in similar contexts and have worked with school leaders for many years. We have struggled as professionals to make sense of how to position PreK/K within the more extensive systems of public education while also recognizing the complexity of school administrators' management of competing interests (e.g., DeMatthews, [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref86">19</reflink>]). Throughout this research process, we reflected on our "views and positions" toward and within our work so that we might question who we are might influence or may have influenced "the design, execution, and interpretation" of our findings "directly or indirectly" (Holmes, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref87">34</reflink>], p. 2).</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-11">Findings</hd> <p>Our focus in this article is to examine how these principals made sense of the support PreK/K teachers need to be successful in their positions within public elementary schools. Before examining our findings to this research question, it is important to note that all these principals felt it was their responsibility to lead these programs, but each struggled to do so because of the pressures they felt from district and state education leaders to ensure students were achieving at high levels in the testing grades (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref88">13</reflink>]). Nevertheless, each of these school leaders provided us with insight into the challenges PreK/K teachers face within their schools and a range of ideas to address these challenges and support PreK/K teachers. Examining their understandings of these issues and of their PreK/K programs in general creates the opportunity to consider what they and their PreK/K teachers might need from district and state administrators to lead these programs more effectively.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-12">A Lack of Instructional and Structural Support for PreK/K Teachers</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191072493-13">Limited Instructional Support</hd> <p>A common response to our inquiry into the support these principals thought PreK/K teachers needed to be successful in their positions centered around improving these teachers' instructional practices. However, these principals stated that there was a lack of district support for improving the instruction of PreK/K teachers specifically and ECE in general. At the time of the present study, the large urban district just overhauled the entire ECE staff with individuals who had no experience within the district, and the district only employs three ECE specialists who oversee more than 70 elementary school campuses that have PreK. As a result, Principal Isbell had "a new PreK teacher this year, and they've gotten no support from district folks." "Honestly," Principal Isbell added, "we don't reach out a lot for district support because it's like there's not something there that [is] actually going to supplement what we currently have." Principal Walsh remarked, "It would be helpful for teachers if there was a clear... leadership and support structure at the district level."</p> <p>Principal De León who worked in a different large urban district with over 100 elementary schools stated their district ECE team consisted of "four, and you can only do so much with a team of four. The district needs to decide where it needs to pour resources, time, and energy so that it can better support ECE teachers and principals." Additionally, for Principals Rodríguez, Salinas, and Wayne, their districts did not employ any administrators who worked solely with the PreK/K programs. Combined, these principals' statements about the lack of instructional support PreK/K teachers receive from their school districts reflect similar challenges other researchers have documented for PreK/K teachers (e.g., Stein & Coburn, [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref89">62</reflink>]).</p> <p>To address this issue and assist PreK/K teachers in growing instructionally, these principals, such as Principal Griner, suggested that PreK and K teachers need "to have ongoing regular training that really addresses the specific needs of the students; maybe every nine weeks, they are able to participate in some type of training of the content they are to teach and given some tools to help them be successful with that." Currently, as Principal Young pointed out, the PreK/K teachers "get frustrated when everything we and the district shows them is for older kids. We tell them you can adapt it, but I think that frustrates them that they feel like they're always an afterthought – and they are honestly." Thus, as Principal Isbell, stated, "They need to have good training, and if that doesn't happen, it's not helping them or their students." Furthermore, Principal De León suggested that if these teachers were to receive:More specialized support, which they don't get enough of it, just not enough. If we were providing a strong foundation in the early grades, we wouldn't struggle with accountability so much. Right now, we're constantly spinning our wheels and pouring out money for interventionists because we're not putting the money into the early grade levels.</p> <p>Combined, these statements demonstrate how these principals understood the importance of supporting PreK/K teachers in providing high quality teaching and learning experiences for their students. Yet, at the same time, their sensemaking of what PreK/K teachers require to be successful in relation to the realities of their work environments seemed to contrast with the own leadership practices and the priorities of district and state education leaders.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-14">Limited Structural Support</hd> <p>Like the limited instructional support these principals identified their PreK/K teachers receiving, they also stated a structural disconnect existed between the district and PreK/K classrooms. For instance, in the large urban district, the district restructured classroom sizes of their PreK programs without consulting classroom teachers. To support PreK teachers, leaders in this district decided that every PreK classroom would have 22 students and two teachers (a certified teacher and an assistant, who was not certified). This enabled the district to align the classes more closely with the National Association for the Education of Young Children's ([<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref90">48</reflink>]) recommended teacher-to-student ratio of 1 to 10 in PreK, but it still exceeded the recommended maximum <emph>n</emph> = 20. According to these principals, it also created unintended consequences for teachers. "A certified teacher and an assistant are not equivalent," Principal Walsh said, "and so that change doesn't address the issue of instructional support for students." Principal Isbell pointed out that "you have 22 students in a room with two adults," and, as Principal Walsh observed, "it's still the same size room. It still has the same number of chairs and still needs to have you know all of the materials, all of the centers, and other activities." So, Principal Walsh concluded, "It doesn't quite work." These challenges for ECE teachers appeared to compound the pressure on the early educators to perform without adequate resources and/or without the opportunity to provide input on systemic changes within their classrooms.</p> <p>All the principals called for a leadership and support structure that, as Principal Walsh indicated, would help their ECE teachers attend to the many challenges of working with their students so that the students would be on the path to success in elementary school. For example, Principal Morales contended, "The state emphasizes third through fifth grade, and there needs to be more of an emphasis on early childhood programs so that they're high quality. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and those grade levels are often forgotten." Principal Russo also stated, "A lot of resources, time, energy, and effort are allocated towards third, fourth, and fifth because they're tested. What would happen if there was a reading specialist and a math specialist who served PreK through second grade?" Principal Earle added that elementary schools need "more interventionists and instructional coaches in the early grades on every campus so that you have more humans to brainstorm ideas and support PreK and K teachers in their work." Such specialists could not only provide a more instructional resources in the classroom, but such support may also improve the instruction of the PreK/K teachers with whom such specialist would work (e.g., Pianta et al. [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref91">51</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-15">Improving Teacher Morale</hd> <p>These second area of support these principals referred to when asked about what their PreK/K teachers needed to be effective in their classrooms centered on improving the morale of PreK/K teachers. Principal Black said that "the biggest problem right now is just morale and people wanting to stick around—that alone is a killer. It's hard to motivate teachers to want to do more because there's already so much asked of them." Further, Principal Walsh shared that ECE teachers, particularly PreK teachers, "are a little bit hungry for a little bit of acknowledgement and a little bit more respect for the work that they do—there's just a thread of a lack of respect that flows through [the] district." They added, "Even in my role as principal, my bosses never asked me for any [of] my PreK or K data; they asked me for my third through fifth grade data... a lot," and the PreK/K teachers whom the principals led apparently felt that the importance and demands of their work were not acknowledged by others within their schools or districts.</p> <p>Low morale was also associated with burnout. Principal Russo suspected that "the rate of burnout is probably double or triple what it's been in the past." Such burnout, as Principal Gunn noted, led "to a mass exodus of PreK/K teachers." It is well documented that teaching in the early years, such as PreK/K requires teachers to engage in physically and psychologically challenging work (e.g., Kwon et al., [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref92">37</reflink>]), and as the principals appear to be pointing out, the COVID-19 Pandemic compounded their ECE teachers' physical and psychosocial struggles (Steed & Leech, [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref93">60</reflink>]).</p> <p>To improve morale, these principals often noted that Texas's entire public education system needs to do a better job of supporting the early years of elementary school. Principal Griner stated, "I think there needs to be an increased emphasis on the importance of PreK and K, because it really is important in supporting student learning." As noted earlier and as found in the research literature (e.g., Brown, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref94">8</reflink>]), many of the principals tied this lack of support to policymakers' focus on testing. One way to address this challenge, according to Principal Russo, would be for state policymakers to implement reforms that were:Less dense in their mandates and more transparent about what needs to occur in classrooms. If there's a thousand standards that K, first, second, or third grade students need to learn by the end of the year, you can't create a framework for appropriate instruction that covers that much content. It's needs to be more learner focused.</p> <p>For Principal Russo, state policymakers' apparent focus on breadth over depth in the state's content standards, known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (Texas Education Agency, [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref95">65</reflink>]), has led a school environment that challenges these PreK/K teachers to cover all the skills and knowledge their students must attain in a manner that reflects how young children learn and develop (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref96">4</reflink>]; Brown & Weber, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref97">10</reflink>]). Furthermore, this focus on racing from skill-to-skill (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref98">7</reflink>]), as Principal Salinas pointed out, has led to a learning environment where school administrators are "shoving the curriculum into PreK/K to get better scores in fifth grade, but we need to be providing the space for teachers to offer tangible learning experiences that help children grow." Thus, these principals seemed to understand, as Vernon-Feagans et al. ([<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref99">66</reflink>]) found, that students who receive high-quality instruction from their teachers across kindergarten through third grade had higher literacy scores than those who did not receive such instruction.</p> <p>For state and district policymakers to implement changes that improved PreK/K teachers' morale, Principal Griner suggested, "When lawmakers are making the decisions that they are, they need to include educators in these decisions about what's happening in schools." Principal Gunn also noted that they should, "Stop focusing on wedge issues because they are a distraction from what we're really here to be kind of working on, and that should be focused on teachers supporting student outcomes, because at the end of the day, that should be our focus." Both principals seemed to want policymakers to implement educational reforms that focuses on improving instruction so that it reflects how children learn and develop (e.g., National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref100">49</reflink>]), and by doing, it appears they saw such reforms as improving the morale of PreK/K teachers.</p> <p>Lastly, these principals appeared to worry that that was a lack of leadership at the district and state levels of governance that understood ECE. Principal Black commented:It seems like the people who don't know much about ECE are the ones that are really trying to drive what's taking place in these classrooms; that leads school districts reacting in a way that may not be addressing the general needs and expectations of principals, PreK/K teachers, and their students.</p> <p>Such a system, as Principal Walsh pointed, out, "leads to a lot of mandates and initiatives that create new challenges for our teachers." Combined, these statements appear to reveal a recognition by these principals that to improve the morale of their PreK/K teachers would require not only a recognition of the importance of the early years of elementary school (e.g., Horm et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref101">35</reflink>]) but also, according to these principals, a system of governance that was administrated by individuals who has knowledge and experience about ECE.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-16">Discussion</hd> <p>The findings of this case study revealed that these elementary school principals in Texas appeared to have a broad understanding of the support their PreK/K teachers required to be successful in their positions as early childhood teachers. For example, they hoped that their ECE teachers would receive more structural support from district leaders, and in the case of the large urban district, that those leaders would rethink some recent efforts, such as the hiring of teaching assistants to provide support, which according to Principal Walsh did not "quite work."</p> <p>Additionally, these principals wanted their districts to build the instructional capacity of their teachers so that they could create what Kauerz et al. ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref102">36</reflink>]) have identified as a culture of continuous improvement to support student learning. Such institutional support from district administrators would not only include offering relevant professional development but also offering such supports as having district-wide competent ECE specialists to support classroom teachers, which Carraway and Young ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref103">15</reflink>]) have highlighted as key for any district-wide initiative designed to improve student learning.</p> <p>This finding that principals have an awareness of the needs of their PreK/K teachers is significant because it demonstrates that in states where PreK and K are the norm within elementary school systems, such as Texas, school leaders view these programs and their teachers as their responsibility, which differs from state like North Carolina (e.g., Cohen-Vogel et al., [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref104">17</reflink>]) and California, where PreK is not as well established in public schools (Smith et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref105">57</reflink>]; Stein & Coburn, [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref106">62</reflink>]). In this case study, it appears leading a school within an established system of PreK/K impacted their mental models of these programs (Bertrand & Marsh, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref107">3</reflink>]), and as such, their sensemaking of their leadership role (Rigby, [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref108">53</reflink>]), which included overseeing PreK/K, seemed to lead them to identify several challenges their PreK/K teachers face on a daily basis and within the larger structure of schooling.</p> <p>Still, while these principals could identify a lack of structural and instructional support for their PreK/K teachers from district and state education administrators, they, themselves, like Principal Young who identified the professional development their school offered PreK/K teachers as an "afterthought," might rethink their own instructional leadership practices (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref109">13</reflink>]; Kauerz et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref110">36</reflink>]). By becoming more aware of their "positional authority" as they lead and develop their PreK/K (Mavrogordato & White, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref111">42</reflink>], p. 8), they have opportunity to support their PreK/K teachers with engaging in high-quality instruction, which can improve students' academic achievement in reading and math (Vernon-Feagans et al., [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref112">66</reflink>]), and offer an immediate fix to some of the challenges their identified their PreK/K teachers facing within their school communities.</p> <p>Furthermore, these principals were concerned about the morale of their PreK/K teachers. Part of this concern was due to the lack of respect by district administrators for PreK/K. While this issue may be the result of state policymakers' emphasis on the importance of the test scores of third, fourth, and fifth grade students (e.g., Brown, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref113">6</reflink>]), it also highlights a lack of understanding about the correlation between students' growth and development in the early years and their academic performance in the later grades (Ansari et al., [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref114">1</reflink>]; Collie et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref115">18</reflink>]).</p> <p>This misalignment between policy and these principals' understanding of the needs of PreK/K teachers also led them to argue that the pressure to perform and produce data, such as Principal Salinas stating that policymakers are "shoving the curriculum into PreK/K," needs to be rethought by district and state education leaders. For example, Pianta et al. ([<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref116">51</reflink>]) have documented how putting pressure on PreK/K teachers to focus academic instruction and learning can negatively affect students' development of social skills, which has been correlated with later academic achievement (e.g., Guhn et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref117">30</reflink>]).</p> <p>Lastly, to support PreK/K teachers more effectively, these principals contended that district and state policymakers should either have or employ individuals who have knowledge and experience about the unique learning environments of PreK/K. Having such knowledgeable staff available will assist district and state policymakers in understanding how teaching and learning in PreK/K is different from other grade levels as they formulate and implement education reforms to improve the morale of teachers and the programs themselves.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-17">Implications</hd> <p>While these principals' statements reflected a general understanding of the needs of their PreK/K teachers (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref118">13</reflink>]), they also provide insight into their own areas of growth as school leaders as well as highlight aspects in their leadership that district and state administrators could develop with them so that they more effective lead their PreK/K programs. First, it is important to recognize that principals are the leaders of their school (Mavrogordato & White, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref119">42</reflink>]). As a result, when principals make decisions about instruction, professional development, and so on, they need to ensure they are doing more than simply acknowledging the needs of their PreK/K teachers. For example, instead of simply asking PreK/K teachers to adapt the training or materials being shared with the testing grade teachers, as Principal Young pointed out, these principals must ensure they are providing PreK/K teachers with the support they need to grow as professionals. Doing so is important because, as Yin et al. ([<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref120">69</reflink>]) found, teachers are more willing to align their teaching with the needs of their students. Moreover, as the principals in our case study appeared to recognize, ensuring high-quality instruction is taking place the early years can improve students' academic achievement in reading and math (Gray-Lobe et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref121">28</reflink>]; Vernon-Feagans et al., [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref122">66</reflink>]), which, as Principal Russo pointed out, might make these students better prepared for the testing that awaits them in the later grades (e.g., Collie et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref123">18</reflink>]).</p> <p>To be more effective leaders of PreK/K, as others have pointed out (Brown, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref124">8</reflink>]; Kauerz et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref125">36</reflink>]; Little et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref126">41</reflink>]), requires principals receive more training from their school districts. This could include school districts looking to principals within their districts who are knowledge about ECE for guidance in how best to support principals' understandings how children learn and develop and how such information should be employed to support PreK/K teachers' growth and development (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref127">13</reflink>]; Drake et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref128">20</reflink>]; Schmidt & Datnow, [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref129">55</reflink>]).</p> <p>Lastly, local school districts and state education agencies should evaluate and work with practicing superintendents and leaders withing state agencies on improving their support of principals as they lead PreK/K teachers (Brown et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref130">13</reflink>]). If there is absence of pedagogical and content knowledge within their organizations about how best to support elementary school principals, their teachers, and the early learners in the PreK/K classrooms, they should reach out to professional groups, such as the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), which developed the Pre-K-3 Leadership initiative (e.g., Kauerz et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref131">36</reflink>]); the NAESP initiative includes professional standards for Pre-K through the 3rd grade, which support principals' acquisition of developmentally appropriate instructional leadership practices that they can implement in their schools (https://<ulink href="http://www.naesp.org/prek3-leadership">www.naesp.org/prek3-leadership</ulink>). Addressing these issues, which the principals in this case study highlighted as an area of need, can create school environments that foster principals and their teachers' pedagogical skills and knowledge as well as meet the needs of PreK and K students (Garrity et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref132">26</reflink>]; Kauerz et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref133">36</reflink>]; Nicholson et al., [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref134">50</reflink>]; Walker & Wooleyhand, [<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref135">67</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-18">Future Research</hd> <p>These suggestions, which are based on the findings of our research, are geared towards supporting elementary school principals and their leadership practices within the early childhood years of elementary school. Thus, there is a need for future research that examines how and advocates for ways to support PreK/K teachers as well as other early educators attaining the support and resources within their working environment required to do their jobs effectively. Additionally, more research is needed (e.g., Hallissey, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref136">32</reflink>]<bold>)</bold> that examines how principal training about ECE impacts their leadership of PreK/K teachers and classrooms within elementary schools as well as what impact such training has on students' growth and development as learners in the early years of schooling.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-19">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>The authors would like to thank Dr. Pedro Reyes, Dr. Sarah Woulfin, Dr. David DeMatthews for their assistance in data collection, and they would like to thank the principals themselves for their time and openness in discussing these important early childhood issues.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-20">Author contributions</hd> <p>Study conception, design, material preparation, data collection, and data analysis were performed by Dr. Christopher P. Brown. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dr. Christopher P. Brown, and Lauren McKenzie commented on this and all versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.</p> <hd id="AN0191072493-21">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0191072493-22"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref114" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Ansari A, Pianta RC, Whittaker JE, Vitiello V, Ruzek E. Enrollment in public-prekindergarten and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry: Differential associations by home language, income, and program characteristics. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 2021; 54: 60-71. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.07.011</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref35" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Bassok, D, Latham, S, & Rorem, A. (2016). Is kindergarten the new first grade? 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  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: How Elementary School Principals Made Sense of Supporting Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Teachers: A Case Study in Texas
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Christopher+Pierce+Brown%22">Christopher Pierce Brown</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0076-9683">0000-0002-0076-9683</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lauren+C%2E+McKenzie%22">Lauren C. McKenzie</searchLink>
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  Label: Source
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Early+Childhood+Education+Journal%22"><i>Early Childhood Education Journal</i></searchLink>. 2026 54(1):345-356.
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  Label: Availability
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  Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 12
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2026
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Early+Childhood+Education%22">Early Childhood Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Preschool+Education%22">Preschool Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Education%22">Elementary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Kindergarten%22">Kindergarten</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Primary+Education%22">Primary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Principals%22">Principals</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Preschool+Education%22">Preschool Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Kindergarten%22">Kindergarten</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Preschool+Teachers%22">Preschool Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Conditions%22">Teaching Conditions</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Administrator+Role%22">Administrator Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Needs%22">Educational Needs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+Schools%22">Elementary Schools</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Texas%22">Texas</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1007/s10643-024-01820-8
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1082-3301<br />1573-1707
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: As prekindergarten and kindergarten (PreK/K) programs continue to expand into public elementary schools, a key actor in this process of integration and alignment is the school principal. While there is a growing body of scholarship that examines how principals integrate and align these programs with the later grades of elementary school, little is known about how principals identify the support prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers need to be successful in educating and preparing their students for school success; such information can provide insight into principals' understanding of the work PreK/K teachers are doing daily in their classrooms. This case study examines this issue by investigating how a sample of elementary school principals in Texas made sense of the support PreK/K teachers require to be successful in their positions. Such findings reveal principals' sensemaking of PreK/K teachers and their programs. These findings also illuminate what principals and their teachers might need from district and state administrators to lead these programs more effectively so that all students can begin their academic careers on a trajectory to thrive in elementary school.
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  Label: Entry Date
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  Data: 2026
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  Label: Accession Number
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  Data: EJ1503800
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        Value: 10.1007/s10643-024-01820-8
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      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 12
        StartPage: 345
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Principals
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Preschool Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Kindergarten
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Preschool Teachers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching Conditions
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      – SubjectFull: Administrator Role
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      – SubjectFull: Educational Needs
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      – SubjectFull: Elementary Schools
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      – SubjectFull: Texas
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      – TitleFull: How Elementary School Principals Made Sense of Supporting Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Teachers: A Case Study in Texas
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            NameFull: Christopher Pierce Brown
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            NameFull: Lauren C. McKenzie
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