Superintendent Leadership Research Articles

Motives and Power of School Board Members: Implications for School Board-Superintendent Relationships

The qualitative study presented in this article explores motivations for school board membership and conceptions of power held by school board members. The findings of the study suggest a relationship exists between the way board members define power and the type of motivation board members have for service. The implications of these findings for school board-superintendent relationships are also discussed. The purpose of the article is to suggest new concepts for board training and within superintendent leadership preparation programs so that board members and superintendents can develop healthier relationships.

A Study on Instructional Leadership of Superintendents of Education at the Municipal Level

A Study on Instructional Leadership of Superintendents of Education at the Municipal Level

A Multi-Site Case Study of Successful Classroom Practices for High Ability Students

A multi-site case study was conducted to describe 10 elementary schools and classrooms with a reputation for implementing differentiated practices to meet the needs of high ability students. The researchers found that classroom teachers at some sites employed flexible grouping practices or provided opportunities for advanced level projects to accommodate students' differing academic needs. At other sites, teachers collaborated with other teachers at their grade level or with district curriculum specialists to provide more academic challenge for talented studerits. And in some situations, the leadership of school principals or superintendents appeared to have a strong impact on teachers' instructional practices. The themes that emerged across the sites include: (a) teachers' advanced knowledge and training, (b) teachers' willingness and readiness to embrace change, (c) collaboration, (d) teachers' beliefs and strategies for differentiating the curriculum, (e) leadership, and (f) autonomy and support.

Executive staffing competencies relating to human resource practices

This study focused on the ability of the superintendent of schools to affect at the local school district level certain human resource practices believed to be directly related to teaching and learning. The link between the leadership of the superintendent of schools and recruitment, selection, assignment, and retention of teachers are not at all well understood. Instructional leadership as exercised by principals and other administrative and human resource personnel is widely believed to influence learning. Leithwood and Steinbach (1993) argue, however, for recognizing the complexities in leadership, especially distinguishing between transactional and transformational patterns of leadership and their effects. No one facet of leadership can be expected to be highly predictive of classroom outcome. However, the focus on human resource practices as a core of organizational events directly related to both superintendent leadership behavior and the quality of teaching in classrooms offers promise for new insights.

The Superintendent's Leadership in School Improvement: A Rural Perspective

ABSTRACT This paper contains a brief review of the research literature on superintendents’ leadership for school improvement as an introduction. Following that, the patterns of five superintendents’ leadership that evolved in five school improvement sites is reported; the activities in which the superintendents engaged in five quite different organizational settings is the focus. In addition, the strategies and events used by external assisters assigned to the sites to develop and enhance leadership behaviors are shared. The paper concludes with a short discussion of the unique conditions and influences on rural superintendents and their leadership for increasing educational effectiveness.

The Paradox of Superintendent Leadership in School Restructuring1

ABSTRACT The thrust of recent school improvement efforts across a number of industrialized countries has been to decentralize decision‐making and broaden access to the decision‐making process for teachers and parents. Such efforts are predicated on the belief that this type of empowerment results in increased commitment and better decisions. This article examines the role that superintendents might play in initiating the restructuring of a school district. Is it possible for the hierarchical leader of the organization to lead a process of bottom‐up improvement? We explore this question in the context of a case study of one superintendent in a moderately‐sized American school district. 1This research was conducted under the auspices of the National Center for Educational Leadership, a consortium of Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Chicago. The investigation was supported by U.S. Department of Education Grant No. R1 17C8005. The views expressed in this paper are those of the a...

School Reform: The District Policy Implications of the Effective Schools Literature

School Reform: The District Policy Implications of the Effective Schools Literature

Power and Persuasion: The Superintendent's Role In Designing Therapeutic Education for L/LD Children

The superintendent's leadership behavior, more than any other factor, determines the character and quality of the instructional programs provided for atypical learners. If education for these children is to become therapeutic, the superintendent must step beyond the limits of traditional administrative models and adopt a more "vital" leadership style. With this transcendence, the superintendency becomes more than a position; it becomes a process. Emphasizing a team approach, it carefully calibrates the elements of power and persuasion in order to obtain and maintain an environment conducive to research and program development, administering more to the nature of the learner than the structure of the organization.

Morale of Curriculum Directors as Related to Perceptions of Leadership of Superintendents

209 curriculum directors in Georgia public schools responded to the School Administrator Morale Measure, a 9-variable scale, and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire, which measures perceptions of their superintendent's behavior in two dimensions, Consideration and Initiating Structure. A canonical R e of .72 was obtained with the subscale Superordinate Relations correlating .69 with Consideration. Few differences in morale or perceptions of leader's behavior due to sex, race, certification status, and length of service were found. On five subscales and the Total Morale measure, means were significantly higher for directors from small systems with those from medium and large systems having lower scores in that order. Initiating Structure of superintendents was perceived by directors as significantly higher than Consideration.

American Public School Administration: A Short Analysis

American Public School Administration: A Short Analysis