Views of Black School Superintendents on Black Consciousness and Professionalism

Abstract

Black school superintendents exert considerable influence over the kind and content of education provided for large numbers of Black students. In 1988, Black school superintendents headed school systems with a combined enrollment of about three million students, of whom about two million were Black. The educational strategies of a society are derived from the pervasive social beliefs and principal educational assumptions of those who exercise power in the determination of permissible policies and practices. In that same vein, the efforts of Black school superintendents are affected by the multifaceted impositions and barriers that are uniquely linked to society's treatment of Black Americans and Black leadership (Scott, 1980). Arguably, few other executive positions are more complex and demanding than that of the school superintendent. While all school systems present certain difficulties to their superintendents, some systems are far more difficult than others. Even with a highly supportive school board-an increasingly uncommon phenomena-performance expectations for school superintendents are often so unrealistic that many professional reputations are tainted and many careers stymied by the contrasts, conflicts, and calamities that beset persons holding that position. Black school superintendents often tend to be located in the more demanding of the superintendencies. They are most often appointed to systems with both inadequate financial resources and welldeveloped reputations as reservoirs of unmet needs (Scott, 1980). Their systems also tend to have large concentrations of Black students and students from disadvantaged socioeconomic environmental settings who suffer from declining achievement test scores and their communities frequently display large-scale unrest about the schools (Moody, 1980). Black superintendents often inherit little that is worth preserving and much that needs changing. This study endeavors to uncover pertinent insights on the ways in which Black school superintendents perceive the linkage between their racial consciousness as Black Americans and their sense of professionalism as educators in their efforts to improve both the life chances of Black Americans and the educational lot of Black students. From insights