Organizational Change and Digital Learning in K-12 World Language Education: A Case Study

Abstract

Organizational change in schools is an enduring and persistent evolution through which institutions manage internal needs, external influences, and shifting educational priorities. A large body of literature has investigated the forces that influence how leaders enact change and the impact those changes have on key stakeholders. However, considerably fewer studies have examined organizational change as it pertains to digital learning in K-12 world language (WL) education. This qualitative case study examined how stakeholders interpreted and responded to a proposed digital learning initiative within a K-12 world language program. The research was conducted in a suburban K-12 district during a period of WL program reductions and restructuring and focused on a proposed kindergarten digital learning push-in pilot within an elementary world language program. Data were collected through interviews, meeting transcripts, district documents, field notes, and researcher memos. This dissertation explored a critical but underexamined challenge in systems change management: the disconnect between the conditions necessary for longitudinally meaningful impact in WL education and top-down initiatives designed to align program structures with changes in the broader educational environment.Findings revealed that stakeholders did not merely resist digital innovation; rather, they interpreted the proposed changes through a historical lens of program reduction, instability, and ambiguous communication, which intensified distrust and uncertainty. Digital learning was perceived differently depending on whether it was framed as enrichment, replacement, outsourcing, or cost-saving. Organizational change was influenced by institutional pressures, resource constraints, and competing priorities. Stakeholders navigating systems with such complex dynamics experienced this tension acutely and responded through compliance, resistance, or by stakeholder mobilization in a unified attempt to influence the proposed transformation. The findings suggest that digital learning initiatives in specialized instructional programs require transparent communication, stakeholder inclusion, and attention to the historical conditions through which proposed changes are interpreted. Along with the persistent and continual flux inherent in organizational dynamics, the emergence of digital platforms and artificial intelligence as instruments of second language acquisition, makes this a timely and relevant study.