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A disproportionality exists between the percentage of females in the role of public school superintendent and the percentage of female public school teachers. The National Center for Education Statistics (2020) survey indicated that 76.5% of the public school teachers were female; while AASA (2015) survey of superintendents indicated that only 26.9% of the respondents were female in 2015 and 26.7% were female in 2020 (Domenech, 2020). The Virginia Department of Education (2019) reported that at the start of the 2019-2020 school year in Virginia, 34% of the superintendents were female which is disproportionate to the percentage of females who are teaching. This research study compared the career paths of female participants of the Virginia Tech Aspiring Superintendents Program and the decisions they made about their career advancement in public education. Additionally, the study gathered data regarding the factors that influenced the career decisions of the participants. A researcher-designed survey was utilized to gather initial data, and interviews using a protocol adapted from Catlett's 2017 study were conducted with volunteer participants from each of the groups that emerged: superintendents, aspiring superintendents and non-aspiring superintendents. The study participants were females who completed the Virginia Tech Aspiring Superintendents Program (ASP) from 2011-2019. The findings of the study suggest the following: female educational leaders have pursued advanced degrees to advance their career paths; participants followed a typical progression of career positions; participants viewed their career paths as supportive and have purposely sought a variety of positions to gain experience in different roles of education; study participants described people-centered traits to be important in order to create a supportive working environment; participants were influenced by an educational leader or mentor to pursue leadership positions; discriminatory actions and perceptions about female administrators are barriers preventing women from becoming superintendents; family or a woman's role in the family is a personal challenge that faces women who are seeking leadership roles in education; and participants indicated that male and female leaders are viewed differently, and strong female leaders are viewed in a negative way while strong male leaders are viewed positively. / Doctor of Education / The percentage of female public school teachers is disproportionate to the percentage of females in the role of public school superintendent. A survey of teachers that was published in 2020 indicated that 76.5% of the public school teachers were female while a survey of superintendents indicated that only 26.7% were female. In Virginia, at the start of the 2019-2020 school year, 34% of the superintendents were female, and while that is higher than the national average, is it still disproportionate to the percentage of females who are teaching in Virginia. The study compared the career paths of aspiring superintendents and the decisions they made about their career advancement in public education. Data regarding the factors that influenced the career decisions of the participants were also gathered. A survey designed by the researcher was used to gather initial data, and interviews using a protocol adapted from Catlett's 2017 study were conducted with volunteer participants from each of the groups that emerged: superintendents, aspiring superintendents and non-aspiring superintendents. The findings of the study suggest the following: female educational leaders have pursued advanced degrees and have followed a typical progression of career positions. Participants viewed their career paths as supportive and have purposely sought a variety of positions. Interview participants endorsed person-centered traits to be important in creating a supportive working environment. Participants were influenced by an educational leader or mentor to pursue leadership positions. Participants experienced discriminatory actions and perceptions about female administrators, and they felt that family or a woman's role in the family is a personal challenge that faces women who are seeking leadership roles in education. Lastly, participants indicated that male and female leaders are viewed differently, and strong female leaders are viewed in a negative way while strong male leaders are viewed positively.

School superintendents have been thrust into the complex world of technology leadership often armed with little technology related training or expertise. District and school leaders are often faced with purchase decisions of costly equipment and software with minimum knowledge of what impact it will have on their organization or specific knowledge of how it will be used to meet curriculum goals. With continued local, state, and federal support and rapid advances in technology, school superintendents are expected to provide leadership in this fast-changing arena. The purpose of this study was to define the role of the school superintendent as an effective technology leader in terms of knowledge, performances, and dispositions. The research questions guiding this study were: • What does a superintendent need to know about technology to be an effective technology leader? • What actions should be performed by a superintendent to be an effective technology leader? • What are indicators of a superintendent's disposition as an effective technology leader? The study was conducted using a three-round Delphi with an expert panel composed of 29 stakeholders with diverse perspectives in the area of school technology leadership. The findings in this study showed a group consensus on 27 knowledge items, 27 performance actions, and 35 dispositional indicators of school superintendents as effective technology leaders. The study contains criteria that may be useful in the development of technology related preparation practices for school superintendents. The findings may also be of interest to those concerned with professional development for superintendents or to those involved in the selection of superintendents for technology leadership positions. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine the distribution of males and females in line and staff positions in central offices in selected school districts in Virginia and to explore factors which may have contributed to this distribution. Answers to the following questions provided data for the study: What is the gender distribution in central office positions? What is the percentage of central office positions by gender based upon the total office gender representation in line and staff positions? What is the gender distribution in line and staff positions? In what way do the selected case study subjects portray their aspirations, their perceived barriers to promotion, their mentors, and their perceptions of gender in central offices? First, 56 out of 65 school superintendents responded to a survey requesting the number and title of central office positions, the name and gender of person holding each position, and the designation of each central office position as line or staff. Student population and region were used in the analysis. The findings revealed that males outnumber females in central office positions and in line positions. Fifteen school districts had no women in line positions. Second, six interviews with line and staff representatives from three school districts were conducted to examine how they portray their aspirations, their perceived barriers to promotion, their mentors, and their perceptions of gender in central offices. The interviewees revealed that the line position representatives followed a different career path than those in staff positions; the females and the staff representatives did not aspire to be superintendent; the line position representatives had doctorates while those in staff positions did not; those in staff positions discussed their accomplishments in programs; those in line positions talked about the responsibilities of their jobs. All had mentors and guidance in their careers. Recommendations for future studies include more study on the culture of a school system, a continuation of this study on women in line and staff positions in central offices, more inclusion of the perspectives of the female educator in training programs,and the requirement of states and school districts to record gender as part of the statistics. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to describe the leadership practices of women superintendents of public school divisions. The researcher interviewed eight women superintendents in the Commonwealth of Virginia examining the participants' self-perceived leadership practices and their reflections of these practices. Data collection occurred through use of interviews, member checks, field notes, a reflexive journal and completion of the Leadership Practices Inventory-SELF. Descriptive accounts of the women's leadership practices in the context of their professional lived experiences and within the framework of transformational leadership theory are presented in a narrative format. Findings and conclusions, were determined by analyzing the collected data, the research question and the review of literature. The findings produced eight leadership practices: 1) use consistent and accurate communication with all stakeholders, 2) be visible, 3) use limited delegation, 4) be collaborative, 5) remain poised, 6) accept personal sacrifice of time and family, 7) exhibit confident, and 8) self-educate, be a quick learner. The findings concluded that women described their leadership practices as relationship building practices and practices incorporating issues of gender and silencing. An implication for future research included discussion for a study which would go beyond the self-described leadership practices of the women superintendents and examine how their leadership practices are implemented and perceived by stakeholders and employees. Data from these direct observations may offer further, detailed insights as to how the described leadership practices of this study are practiced, implemented and perceived by others. / Ph. D.

A study was conducted involving the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) State Superintendents of the Year to gain information related to their perceptions and strategies for success and longevity. The study examined the factors of personal traits, school board relationships and current instructional issues such as No Child Left Behind and IDEIA to determine which, if any, contributed to their longevity and success of tenure. Surveys were mailed to all 150 State Superintendents of the Year, as identified by AASA. Descriptive were analyzed to examine trends and possible correlations. Strategies used to build board-superintendents relationships and deal with educational mandates, their perceptions of the effectiveness of their boards, the impact of educational mandates, and personal and professional characteristics of these superintendents were found. / Ph. 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.

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World-wide, countries struggle with providing equitable education to all children, where the socioeconomic (SES) background of the students does not affect their educational attainment and achievement. School segregation has been shown in previous research to exacerbate the influence of family background on educational achievement and attainment. In 2019, the Swedish National Agency for Education (NAE) initiated a network between seven superintendents in charge of compulsory education where focus was on school segregation. Through reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with six of the superintendents, this research aims to identify what can be learnt from the network project with regards to (1) how school segregation can be tackled by superintendents and (2) using such networks as a method for collaboration. The results indicate that NAE-organized networking between superintendents can be a fruitful way to facilitate professional learning for superintendents by providing a forum they do not usually have access to, where vulnerability and openness is encouraged, and the superintendents help each other develop professionally. With regards to school segregation, the results indicate that the superintendents chose to focus on tackling the negative effects of school segregation by enacting leadership actions aimed at improving instructional quality in the schools with the lowest educational achievement. The findings indicate that superintendents may be able to reduce SES disparities in educational attainment and achievement through enacting and communicatively encouraging leadership actions oriented towards achieving tight coupling, boundary spanning practices. / Världen över har länder svårigheter i att ge en jämlik utbildning till alla barn, där elevernas socioekonomiska bakgrund inte påverkar deras resultat och möjlighet att tillgodogöra sig utbildningen. Tidigare forskning visar att skolsegregation förhöjer familjebakgrundens effekter på utbildningsresultaten. 2019 initierade Skolverket ett nätverk mellan sju skolchefer med ansvar för grundskolan, som fokuserade på skolsegregation. Genom reflexiv tematisk analys av semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex av skolcheferna syftar uppsatsen till att identifiera vad som kan läras av nätverksprojektet med avseende på (1) hur skolchefer kan arbeta med skolsegregation och (2) användande av den här typen av nätverk som metod för samarbete. Resultaten indikerar att nätverk mellan skolchefer, organiserat av Skolverket, kan vara ett framgångstikt sätt att främja professionellt lärande för skolchefer, genom att ge dem tillgång till ett forum de vanligtvis inte har tillgång till, där sårbarhet och öppenhet uppmuntras, och där skolchefer kan stödja varandra i sin professionella utveckling. Gällande skolsegregationen indikerar resultaten att skolcheferna i den här studien valde att fokusera på att minska de negativa effekterna av skolsegregationen genom att tillämpa ledarskapshandlingar som syftade till att höja den pedagogiska kvaliteten i de skolor med lägst resultat. Slutligen indikerar studien att skolchefer kan ha en roll i att minska minska betydelsen av elevers socioekonomiska bakgrund på skolresultaten genom att tillämpa och främja användandet av ledarskapshandlingar som syftar till att uppnå tight coupling och gränsöverskridande arbete.