The purpose of this study was to explore and analyze how district superintendents foster and build relationships with school principals through their interactions to support and nurture strong leadership. From a transformational lens, I explored how the strength of such connectedness builds bridges to leadership sustainability. Reflections of…

Cybersecurity remains a critical concern for school systems nationwide, showing a consistent increase in publicly disclosed K-12 cyber incidents over the past 5 years. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment underscores this trend, predicting ongoing targeting of K-12 school networks by cyber actors who will…

This study makes use of a data set detailing instances of public school superintendent turnover in the commonwealth of Kentucky between 2014 and 2023. A quantitative research design was used to analyze descriptive statistics and salary changes based on a set of demographic and descriptive variables in the sample of 205 superintendent turnovers…

When Dr. Tina Lupton and Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones joined the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Opportunity Culture implementation was happening in the midst of COVID. Lupton, the executive director of professional learning, and Barnes-Jones, the area superintendent for a network of 15 transformation schools, used their experience in other…

The purpose of this article is to examine ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the adoption and perception of virtual programs in Indiana public school districts. This mixed-methods sequential explanatory study focuses on beliefs held by Indiana public school superintendents and virtual program administrators regarding the growth of…

The importance of dedicating time for teacher's professional learning is known, but dedicating adequate time for principals' learning and development is often neglected. The author recommends that superintendents take the following steps to guide their efforts to support principals' learning: (1) get to know principals as individual learners, (2)…

In K-12 public school districts, females are not dominant in educational leadership positions. Females continue to be underrepresented in the positions that pay more and have the greatest impact on students' education. Despite some females pursuing and attaining credentials for leadership, they encounter obstacles along the path to leadership.…

This study involving 233 participants from ten states sought to identify the types of educational journals practicing superintendents read. The findings indicate that the majority of superintendents are reading publications provided by professional and trade organizations rather than peer-reviewed journals. Across all subgroups, "Educational…

The purpose of the current study was to gain the self-reflections from K-12 superintendents on their amount of oral language/talk to accomplish the work of the superintendency and the engagement of internal and external stakeholders. The focus of this study were superintendents in a rural, Western state. The response rate of the study was 63%. The…

The American School District Panel (ASDP) is the newest addition to RAND's American Educator Panels (AEP) and was designed to survey district leaders two times each school year. RAND recruits ASDP members using probabilistic sampling methods, which allow researchers to weight survey results to generalize to the national population of school…

This is the latest report in the State of the Superintendent series, an annual report intended to provide a reliable, recurring snapshot of the U.S. public school superintendency. Since the American School District Panel began in fall 2020, researchers have periodically surveyed superintendents about their job, focusing on job-related stressors,…

Education has historically been dominated by women, while those in leadership positions are male. Women are acutely underrepresented in the top position in public school districts across the nation. There is consistent evidence supporting that women often encounter both explicit and implicit barriers hindering their trajectory and growth to a…

Despite the widespread integration of personal devices in K-12 education, students are inadequately prepared to utilize technology in alignment with the demands of the contemporary world (World Economic Forum, 2022). They are coming of age amidst a disruptive technological landscape, encompassing artificial intelligence, robotics, the internet of…

Barriers surround top-tier leadership in K-12 education. The superintendent position continues to be occupied by male leaders despite the overwhelming number of female educators. This qualitative study explored the disparity between male and female leaders through the perspectives of female superintendents in a southern state. This study relied on…

The work of a school leader can be compared to that of an architect, who must bring a team together to create something original on a solid foundation. Aaron Spence, superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, came to the district nine years ago, ready to serve the district where he'd grown up. His previous experiences in school…