Superintendents of public school districts occupy positions of tremendous importance and influence (Sharp & Walter, 2004). In total, the nation's approximately 14,000 superintendents are responsible for the educational outcomes of nearly 55 million K-12 students (US Department of Education, 2009). Critical to the superintendent's ability to bring about and maintain positive change in a district is the quality of the relationship the superintendent upholds with the school board (Petersen & Fusarelli, 2001). This study sought to identify strategies that successful superintendents use to establish and maintain positive and productive relationships with their school boards. Successful superintendents in this study were defined as proactive and purposeful superintendents who have demonstrated the ability to get things done and move the school district forward in a coherent and positive direction.Following Brunner's (2000) methodology, a group of six award-winning current and former superintendents were recruited to serve as recommenders, selecting the two superintendents who participated in this study. In an effort to avoid exclusive reliance on superintendent self-perceptions, two school board members from each district were randomly selected to participate. Superintendents and school board members provided data through participation in one of two parallel semi-structured interviews.The results of this study indicated that successful superintendents ultimately sought to develop and maintain within their board an appropriate understanding of their role as board members. This study posed a second question, "What characteristics and attributes do governing board members find desirable in their superintendent?" Governing board members articulated a definitive need to be able to trust their superintendent. Superintendents in this study were acutely aware of this board member need. Governing board members articulated three primary superintendent traits that fostered and nurtured trust in their superintendent, including high-performance, strong communicative skills, and likeability of the superintendent.However, the development of trust was more a means to an end, than an end in itself. Superintendents used these traits to foster trust and ultimately to develop appropriate board member role understanding that focused board member attention and energy on policy objectives and away from administrative and managerial functions.

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This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to determine the reasons why women leave the superintendency. This study not only illustrated the different ways a woman can leave the position of superintendent but also the reasons she would choose to leave. These reasons can be either positive or negative, but they rarely are the sole cause for why a woman leaves the position. This interview study of 20 female participants who served as superintendent in the Commonwealth of Virginia identified four main themes as to why a woman chose to leave the superintendency. These included: (a) it wasn’t the job I thought it would be; (b) the struggles with family; (c) taking care of herself; and (d) I’m not the right fit for the community. The study also identified the routes women take to leave the superintendency which include retirement, leaving for another superintendency, movement into another position within PK-12, opportunity in higher education, working as an educational consultant, or moving into a position outside of education.

Thesis advisor: Diana C. Pullin / Framed in the context of increased media attention focused on a shortage of qualified candidates for the superintendency of public school districts, this study examines the thought process of educational leaders who are in a position to pursue the superintendency. A review of the literature explored the increasing challenges of the position itself, and examined business and psychology literature concerning applicant attraction and the concept of fit including the factors that may attract and deter potential applicants. Qualitative research methods were used to illuminate the thought process that accompanies consideration of the superintendency. The following research questions were considered: what factors, including job desirability and accessibility, influence the pursuit intentions of individuals qualified to be superintendent, and, how does the mix of motivators and inhibitors impact the decision to pursue or not to pursue the position? Twelve in-depth interviews were conducted with graduates of a doctoral program in educational leadership, all currently working as educational leaders in public school districts. Coded transcripts from the interviews highlighted the importance of perceived positional and organizational fit, the use of a common mental checklist to conceptualize fit, and the weight that is applied to different factors. Data also pointed to the ways in which female and racial/ethnic minorities experience the pursuit process differently, especially in terms of their access to pipeline networks. Recommendations are made for professional associations of educational leaders, search agencies and school districts, and higher education. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This study focused on the identification of career paths that led to the Texas public school superintendency, including an examination of career path differences associated with gender, ethnicity, and district type, and on the identification of the career path positions superintendents perceived as being the most beneficial in preparing them for the superintendency. Additionally, the study examined place-bound versus career-bound superintendents. The most common career path to the Texas public school superintendency was secondary teacher, secondary principal, and superintendent. Female administrators and administrators who worked in large districts were more likely to take the director route to the superintendency. Additionally, most major urban superintendents took the director route to the superintendency. Ethnicity was not a significant factor in determining the career path to the superintendency. A significant correlation did exist between educational attainment and the secondary teacher, secondary assistant principal, secondary principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent career path. A higher representation of superintendent respondents who held earned doctorates existed in that career path than in any of the other career path groups. While educational attainment was important in higher paying districts, most Texas superintendents did not hold doctorates. Few held doctorates from the most prestigious, nationally recognized universities.

The purpose of this study was to report and describe certain recurrent perceptions, events, behaviors and relationships associated with the initiation and transition phases of a new superintendency. The initiation phase of a new superintendency is defined as the timeframe inclusive of the date the individual accepts the appointment of superintendent up to the date the individual actually assumes the position of superintendent. The transition phase is defined as the first one hundred days following the assumption of the superintendent position. While this study’s purpose is not to evaluate the quality of a superintendent's tenure, it does identify and describe certain factors that might be generalized as being associated with the tenor of a superintendent's tenure. The study is guided by the following major questions: 1. What was the prevailing climate of the community of the superintendency vacancy when the individual was appointed? 2. What professional preparation and personal issues were identified as factors by the individual seeking the new superintendency? 3. How did the individual establish the climate of the new superintendency? 4. How did the individual establish a vision and develop a plan of action for the new superintendency? 5. What actions were initiated by the individual within the first one hundred days of the new superintendency? The researcher conducted structured interviews of five superintendents who were serving in their first three years in a Virginia school system. Specific questions guided the interviews. Interview questions followed the procedure suggested by McCracken in The Long Interview. Data were also collected from documents including: official records and documents from each of the five respective school systems; local newspapers; personal notations and correspondences of the superintendents; superintendent’s resumes and biographies. Data are presented in narrative form. The findings of this study indicate that there are certain recurrent perceptions, events, behaviors and relationships associated with the initiation and transition phases of selected superintendents relevant to the five questions that guided the study. Further, these factors appear to be common fo the initiation and transition phases of a new superintendent regardless of such variables as the size of the school system, the gender, age, or ethnicity of the individual. / Ed. D.

Women historically hit a glass ceiling when trying to reach for a school district’s highest position. While nationally an overwhelming majority of educators are female, approximately only a quarter of all superintendents are women. In Kentucky, 19% of public school superintendents are female. Female superintendent research has focused on the barriers that inhibit women from obtaining the superintendency; however, recently a shift to focus on how women lead has occurred. The superintendency encompasses five roles: instructional leader, manager, political leader, communicator and applied social scientist. Although female superintendents’ strength is often instructional leadership, the role of political leader is met with some difficulty. This exploratory study examines experienced Kentucky female superintendents’ perceptions and practices of political leadership. The research was conducted in two phases: Phase 1 invited all Kentucky female superintendents to participate in demographic questionnaire, and Phase 2 encompassed two one-hour interviews with six experienced Kentucky superintendents. Four main areas provide the foundation for inquiry: preservice experiences, defining political leadership, behaviors of political leadership, and levels of political leadership. Kentucky female superintendents stated political leadership was the role they were least prepared for in the infancy of their superintendency. Female superintendents’ lived-experiences differed from the norm of political leadership. Female district leaders outlined a cyclical, proactive process of political leadership dependent on relationships—networking. Women superintendents capitalized on referent power to develop a “political lens” when making decisions. Study participants reported two distinct levels of political leadership (local and state), and they connected their district’s vision to resources—people—and served as a bridge to connect outside resources into the district. This work affirms previous research concerning female superintendents but also brings to light how women perceive politics, which is outside some of the previous norms and research concerning political leadership.

The problem of this study was to determine the impact of the Regional Education Service Centers on the public school superintendency in Texas and the desired future development of the centers.

<p>This thesis addresses the problem of how it is possible to understand the governing system for the school sector by studying how the relationship between the government and municipalities comes to the fore in the position held by the directors of education, who are the administrative directors of education in the municipalities. In order to put the position of the directors of education in its place in the government´s system for adminsitrating the school sector, we have studied how this office developed to be a part of the central adminsitration of school acivities in the municipalities. The study includes an analysis of how the position and function of this office changes up until the 1990´s, as well as what experiences the directors of education who serverd during the 1990´s had of the control and adminsitration of matters in the school sector.</p><p>The empirical material of the study consists partly of documents and litterature - particularly hostoric texts, and partly of a questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaires have been carried out among all of the directors of education that served during the whole 1990´s. The results of the study show that the changes in the government´s system for governing the school sector have rendered the system itself seomwhat obscure. Positions of responsibility have not become clear. Hidden control becomes visible by the way in which economic issues are handled and by the existence of the agreement on school development - both of which are control instruments in the school sector, but not parts of the national control and adminsitration system. Underpressure has been developed in which the government, through its decrees, has strengthened the school level in issues that need to be solved in the municipal level in the present system, whithout the municipal level actually beeing strengthening.</p>

This thesis addresses the problem of how it is possible to understand the governing system for the school sector by studying how the relationship between the government and municipalities comes to the fore in the position held by the directors of education, who are the administrative directors of education in the municipalities. In order to put the position of the directors of education in its place in the government´s system for adminsitrating the school sector, we have studied how this office developed to be a part of the central adminsitration of school acivities in the municipalities. The study includes an analysis of how the position and function of this office changes up until the 1990´s, as well as what experiences the directors of education who serverd during the 1990´s had of the control and adminsitration of matters in the school sector. The empirical material of the study consists partly of documents and litterature - particularly hostoric texts, and partly of a questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaires have been carried out among all of the directors of education that served during the whole 1990´s. The results of the study show that the changes in the government´s system for governing the school sector have rendered the system itself seomwhat obscure. Positions of responsibility have not become clear. Hidden control becomes visible by the way in which economic issues are handled and by the existence of the agreement on school development - both of which are control instruments in the school sector, but not parts of the national control and adminsitration system. Underpressure has been developed in which the government, through its decrees, has strengthened the school level in issues that need to be solved in the municipal level in the present system, whithout the municipal level actually beeing strengthening.