As schools shift towards online and hybrid educational models, they increasingly rely on existing and emerging technologies to facilitate their operations. The COVID-19 pandemic required elementary schools to shift to online and virtual instruction. Current literature frequently has examined these issues from a technical perspective and at the college level, yet a gap remains in the literature about challenges elementary teachers face transitioning to online instruction. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to identify the perceptions of elementary educators regarding technical, equity, and social-cognitive challenges of online instruction as well as supports administrators could offer to meet these challenges. The theoretical framework is social learning theory and the community of inquiry framework, which includes social and teaching presence in online instruction. Data were collected using a mixed-methods design, with the quantitative analysis driven by data from 36 surveys augmented by the qualitative analysis performed on results from five semi-structured interviews. The qualitative data provided rich descriptions from the participants. Technical challenges included inconsistent internet connectivity, teacher reliance on technical support, and difficulty with virtual classroom management. Equity challenges were parents who were unprepared to assist students, distractions and lack of supervision at home for lower income students, lack of access to mental health supports, engaging students with disabilities, and inequitable student resources and support. Social-cognitive challenges were establishing social presence, including difficulty gaining student engagement and keeping students on task in the online environment. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]