How organizations learn: investigating boundary crossing activities for redesigning equity-oriented principal preparation programs

This paper examines how multi-institutional partnerships drive systemic changes in equity-centered principal preparation programs (PPPs). Using a district partnership team (DPT) within the Equity Leadership Pathway (ELP, pseudonym) initiative in the United States as the case study, we apply a multilevel boundary-crossing framework to analyze how organizations learn as universities, districts, and state agencies navigate bureaucratic and cultural friction. Our findings reveal that these discontinuities were not mere barriers, but vital catalysts for ideological negotiation and institutional reforms. Through identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation mechanisms, the stakeholders co-governed the leadership development program to bridge the theory-practice gap. Future research should include longitudinal data to explore how this equity-centered training could impact leadership practices, school environments, and long-term student learning outcomes.