Introduction

Research in educational leadership broadly takes the position that leadership matters for quality teaching and learning. From that position we pursue insight about what effective leaders know and do and how to prepare and support leaders that will carry a collective vision of excellence onward. Yet, we are often unclear as to what exactly that vision looks like from one school or district to the next. In part, we have built a base of knowledge about education and educational leadership without sufficiently accounting for the variability and diversity of the contexts where leaders operate. It may seem obvious to some, but the size of a school district is one such contextual characteristic that has important implications for practitioners, researchers, preparation programs, and policymakers.