This case study uses two theoretical lenses to analyze political events in a Southern California school district: dissatisfaction theory and groupthink. The case study technique of pattern matching was used to frame the analysis (Yin, 2009). Data for 1992-2008 was gathered from interviews, the Orange County Registrar of Voters, newspapers,…

Kathy Cox, the superintendent of schools for Georgia, believes "excellence is not an accident". She made a name for herself by winning $1 million proving she was smarter than a fifth-grader on a popular television show. This article presents a profile of Cox, her family, her role as school superintendent, and her accomplishments.…

This article profiles Terry Grier, the new superintendent of Houston Independent School District. Grier, who began his career as a teacher and a coach in North Carolina, has run nine school districts in six states over the last 25 years. His allies and critics agree on one thing: Grier pushes change at lightning speed. That's the main reason the…

This article discusses the life of Carlos A. Garcia, superintendent at the San Francisco Unified School District. Garcia was born in Chicago, but his parents shortly thereafter moved back to their homeland of Mexico for a few years. When Garcia was almost 5, his family moved to Los Angeles, where his parents worked in factories and Garcia was…

In the spring of 2007, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana made the first call. Gov. Kathleen Blanco made the next call. And Louisiana's state superintendent of schools, Paul Pastorek, made the final pitch. The trio wanted to know if Paul Vallas, the renowned CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, would make a move to New Orleans to oversee the…

School districts are moving toward a new form of management in which superintendents need to form and nurture leadership teams. A study of 25 such teams in Connecticut suggests that a team's effectiveness is maximized when the team members are coached by other team members, not the superintendent, and when they are coached on task-related…

In 1922, Ellwood Cubberley characterized the superintendency by stating, "No profession offers such large personal rewards for the opportunity of living one's life in molding other lives, and in helping to improve materially the intellectual tone and moral character of a community" (Public school administration: A statement of the…

As the accountability standards for schools throughout the nation become more pressing, the relationship between the school superintendent and the local school board has become even more critical to a school's success. A clearer picture of the desired competencies of school superintendents by local boards of education should assist both parties in…

This dissertation was designed to answer the following question. What are elementary and middle school principals' theories of action in two rural school districts? Sub-questions included the superintendent-principal relationship and its influence on the principal's theories of action and the extent to which rural context impacts…

This sequential mixed-methods study determined to what extent the factors identified in the literature were present in the decision to hire an internal candidate to the superintendency in Wisconsin in the last ten years. An initial survey was sent to all 424 Wisconsin public school districts and follow-up surveys sent to school board members in…

This article presents researcher reflections of a case study of a Black female deputy superintendent who made the value-driven decision to close the achievement gap in her district. I posit that she is an outlier because she is Black and female in a predominantly white male field of practice, she effectively closed the achievement gap through her…

It would exacerbate the tragedy of the current economic situation if no lessons were learned from it which would contribute to future growth and prosperity. That applies equally to the business sector and to the education sector. This is not to imply that many current, effective superintendents do not ask the very questions posed in this essay;…

Ensuring quality teaching in every classroom across an entire system of schools--that's what a district leader's job is all about. A district leader's challenges are unique so "The Learning System" was created with that in mind. This issue contains: (1) Competing Values Form Obstacles to Change: Deep Conversations Uncover Invisible Goals (Valerie…

Ethical dilemmas, situations involving a conflict between values or principles, often arise when employees of school districts violate laws or professional codes of behavior. Ethical dilemmas also occur when there are inequities in educational programming, resulting in missed opportunities for students. This qualitative study, conducted with the…

Purpose: This study examines the outcomes of one regional intermediate school district's effort to promote literacy coach role implementation in its 20 constituent districts. The findings from this study provide information about the kinds of district-level contexts that influenced literacy coach role implementation and how those contexts were…