The modern superintendent is a key figure in the administrative process of the public school system. In fulfilling his role, he must consider performing numerous functional tasks which involve the many facets of the educational program.It was the purpose of the study to: (1) identify the functional tasks of the superintendent, (2) to determine if the performance of the identified functional tasks varied according to the pupil enrollment of the school corporation, and (3) to determine whether or not the functional tasks were totally accepted, partially delegated, or totally delegated by the superintendent.As a result of a review of the research and literature related to the superintendency, and consultation with professional educators, a list of 150 functional tasks ascribed to the superintendent was developed. The functional tasks pertained to eight areas of educational administration: (1) finance and business management, (2) instruction, (3) pupil personnel, (4) school plant, (5) school-community relations, (6) staff personnel, (7) relations with board of education, and (8) general.The functional tasks were incorporated into a questionnaire, which was mailed to 280 Indiana superintendents in August, 1970. The superintendents were asked to respond to each functional task in one of four ways: (1) did he "totally accept" the performance of the functional task, (2) did he "partially delegate" the performance of the functional task, (3) did he "totally delegate" the performance of the functional task, or (4) was the functional task "not performed" in the school system. Two hundred and thirty-two (232) or 82.8 per cent of the superintendents returned questionnaires.The data derived from the questionnaires were analyzed in four ways: (1) The functional tasks performed and not performed by the superintendents were summarized according to the functional categories in which they were placed and by school corporations of specified pupil enrollment. (2) The rank order of the functional categories was compared among school corporations of specified pupil enrollment. (3) The functional tasks not performed were identified according to the size of the school corporation. (4) A comparison was made of the degrees of delegation of the functional tasks among school corporations of specified pupil enrollment.The analyzed data indicated the following, in terms of functional tasks of superintendents in the State of Indiana: (1) In general, as the pupil enrollment of the school corporations increased, the degrees of delegation of the functional tasks tended to shift from totally accepted to partially delegated to totally delegated. (2) Functional tasks making up the functional category relations with board of education tended to be totally accepted by the majority of superintendents regardless of the size of the school corporations. (3) In school corporations with small pupil enrollments, the superintendent generally totally accepted the majority of the functional tasks in the functional categories finance and business management, school plant, and general; while superintendents in school corporations with larger pupil enrollments tended to partially delegate and/or totally delegate the performance of these functional tasks. (4) The majority of the responding superintendents, regardless of the size of the school corporation, either partially delegated or totally delegated the functional tasks involving pupil personnel. (5) In general, the superintendents and the professional staff tended to share the responsibility for the performance of the majority of functional tasks in the functional categories instruction, school-community relations, and staff personnel. (6) The smaller the school corporation, the greater the number of functional tasks indicated as not performed. The functional tasks most effected in this way were in the areas of instruction, school plant, school-community relations, and staff personnel.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175579 |
| Date | January 1970 |
| Creators | Cohen, Arthur Lee |
| Contributors | Nesper, Paul W. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 143 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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