The purpose of this study was to examine educators' perceptions of their preparation and expectations for teaching and learning during the COVID-19 school closures through the lens of context-responsive leadership theory. School enrollment, educational attainment, poverty, and race were the county-level external school contexts we studied. The sample includes 270 participants from 13 New Jersey counties. Findings provide evidence for a positive, moderate relationship between school enrollment and perceptions of preparedness for the COVID-19 school closures. School leaders may improve teaching and learning during school closures when using their external school context literacies in certain situations.