Administrators who have been trained in the sciences may be more effective than those who have been trained in the humanities, according to a review of the literature. This paper asserts that the effectiveness of superintendents is a function both of their specific preparation for administration and of their educational backgrounds. The…

A survey of Alaska's 52 school superintendents revealed that their levels of satisfaction in several aspects of their jobs were affected by several task variables, in contrast to the findings of an earlier nationwide study. A personal-experiential instrument, a task variables instrument, and the Job Descriptive Index were used to obtain data.…

A comparative survey of 46 Alaska school superintendents and 520 in the nation at large reveals that nearly all the superintendents in both groups consider their relationship with the school board to be important and spend a considerable amount of time on that relationship. A positive correlation emerges between the importance superintendents…

Recent national reports on the status of education in the United States fail to analyze the relationship between the quality and qualifications of school superintendents and the quality of education. Superintendents appear to be hired all too often on the basis of who they know rather than of how qualified they are. Only 30 percent of the…

Across the nation, about 16,000 school boards are responsible for selecting their chief school administrators, including the superintendent. To aid school boards with their selection process, this paper provides some helpful hints. First, boards need to establish goals, philosophy, and school district needs and determine all possible alternatives…

The feelings that superintendents have about the methods used by school boards to evaluate their effectiveness may influence their motivation, relationship with the board, and organizational success. National studies reveal that 46.9 percent of superintendents have positive feelings, 18.3 have negative feelings, and 34.8 percent have neutral…

From a sample of over 1,000 advertisements for school superintendent positions, this study compiles a list of qualifications and tasks required of most superintendents and indicates the trends in school board expectations of superintendents. The author first notes the degree of education preferred by school boards in their superintendents and then…

This paper argues that excellence in American education requires increased superintendent effectiveness and productivity. It provides examples of inadequate educational outcomes and lists recommendations for improvement. These recommendations include more effective superintendent selection procedures, better superintendent working conditions,…

A national study of superintendents reveals that most superintendents (89.6 percent) consider their relationship with the community to be very important, and most (63.5 percent) spend a great deal of time on that relationship. There is a positive correlation between the importance superintendents assign to their relationship to the community and…

This handbook is aimed at improving the effectiveness of school board members. Effectiveness of the individual board member has a direct bearing on the effectiveness of the whole board, superintendent of schools, school district, and policy formation. The major functions of the school board are discussed: (1) selection of the superintendents; (2)…

Identification of the causes of job stress for public school superintendents, with a focus on personal-experiential and task variables, is the purpose of this study. Methodology involved a mail survey of 1,531 randomly selected superintendents. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and multiple regression correlation (MCR) analysis were used to…