Thesis (M.A.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 205-220.

Previous research offers insights about characteristics of successful superintendents and provides generic lists of attributes (Collins, 2005 and Schleuning, 2003). However, little is known about specific characteristics of Hispanic male superintendents who have been successful in ascending to a superintendent position (Padilla, 2003, Garza, 2003 and Rueda, 2002). Given the current need to select superintendents who reflect the current population changes, further inquiry of the personal and professional attributes from a board presidents’ perspective is needed with a specific focus on male Hispanics who have been selected to serve as superintendent. The purpose of the study is to identify attributes (characteristics) that Texas school board presidents believe are important when having selected a Hispanic male superintendent. The study investigated four research questions: (a) the perceptions of Texas public school board presidents regarding the most important personal attributes when having selected a Hispanic male superintendent; (b) the perceptions of Texas public school board presidents regarding the most important professional attributes when having selected a Hispanic male superintendent; (c) the size (student enrollment) of a school district affect the perception of school board presidents regarding the important attributes; and (d) geographic location affect the perception of school board presidents regarding the important attributes? The study followed a quantitative research paradigm. A descriptive research design approach was used. Thus, a survey was used as instrumentation to collect data (Schleuning, 2003). Texas public school board presidents’ who were serving, and who selected and hired Hispanic male superintendents for 2008-2009 school year were surveyed. Data was analyzed: using descriptive statistics including means and standard deviations, one-way analyses and analyses of variance. Findings revealed that Texas public school board presidents regarding the most important personal attributes when having selected a Hispanic male superintendent are; level of education, previous experience in school administration, and years of experience in education. The most important professional attributes are; honest/fair standards, personal integrity, and visionary leadership. Findings also suggest that enrollment size and geographic location does not affect the perception of school board presidents when selecting a Hispanic male superintendent. / text

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Role conflict between school board members and superintendents appears to exist in some Indiana school corporations. The purpose of the study was to investigate and report role perceptions of school board member duties and obligations as seen by board members and superintendents. A further purpose of the study was to identify task-related areas of disagreement regarding role responsibilities generally perceived by each respective response group.A questionnaire was designed to solicit responses from school board members and superintendents regarding perceived initial board member involvement with twenty-one educational tasks. Each task was arranged into a five step horizontal continuum, ranging from executive duties to legislative duties. Respondents were selected from a random sampling of Indiana school corporations which had been stratified according to student enrollment into three equal groups.Major findings derived from the analysis of data were:1. School board members and superintendents demonstrated significant differences in perceptions regarding board member initial involvement with respect to ten of the twenty-one educational tasks.2. In ten of the remaining eleven tasks, board members and superintendents demonstrated intragroup disagreement.3. School board members and superintendents of different sized school corporations demonstrated intergroup disagreements.Major conclusions based on findings of the study were:1. School board members fail to differentiate between the policy-making role of the school board and the administrative role of the superintendent.2. School board members and superintendents are not consistent with respect to perceptions of initial board member involvement.3. School board members and superintendents in different sized school corporations disagree concerning perceptions of initial board member assumption of responsibilities.Major recommendations based upon the findings and conclusions of the study were:1. School board members and superintendents need to cooperatively plan orientation andtraining sessions in order to understand the processes of policy planning, policy development, and policy evaluation.2. Research should be conducted to determine the effects of written policies and procedures upon the role perceptions of superintendents and board members regarding the duties and obligations of board members.3. The study should be replicated with an enlarged sample to further validate the findings that were influenced by size of school corporation.

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Whilst extensive research has been done on the association between corporate governance and firm performance, the empirical evidence is inconclusive. This thesis argues that the failure of past studies to establish a positive association between corporate governance and performance might be caused by the use of conservative accounting in firms. If firms with stronger corporate governance adopt more conservative accounting procedures, then tests of the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and performance will be biased downwards. If market participants fail to recognise a link between conservative accounting and corporate governance, then firms with stronger corporate governance might also be systematically undervalued. Therefore, studying the relationship between selected corporate governance attributes and the extent of conservative accounting does more than just extend our understanding of the link between governance characteristics and accounting quality. It also provides useful insights for interpreting the existing literature on the association between corporate governance and performance. In this thesis, detailed investigation is undertaken of the link between several governance characteristics (as well as an aggregate index) and the extent of conservatism evident in Australian firms?? financial reporting. Overall, the results provide only weak evidence that firms with certain governance characteristics report more conservatively. Evidence of any such link is restricted to measures of board composition and leadership, and even then the results are sensitive to the method used to measure the extent of conservatism in financial reporting. There is no systematic evidence of an association for measures of audit committee composition, nor board size. Finally, there is only weak evidence that use of a Big 5 auditor affects the extent of conservatism and the results are sensitive to the period investigated. These results are all robust to explicitly recognizing possible endogeneity between the extent of conservative accounting and the governance attributes examined. Overall, the results raise important questions about the extent to which widely advocated corporate governance attributes result in accounting outcomes which accelerate the revelation of relatively poor economic news, at least for Australian firms in the years examined (1998 and 2002). However, beyond the immediate relationship examined, the results also suggest that caution is appropriate before dismissing the absence of a link between governance attributes and firm performance as being attributable to accounting conservatism.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-136). Also available via the Internet.