After 38 years as a teacher and school administrator, including 24 years as the superintendent in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Donald Draayer, the author of this article, has discovered that retirement is not one transition, but many, affecting all aspects of life. He is finding that retirement is like virgin soil. The ground must be cleared, plowed and…

Very few jobs are done singly. Most people work with others and have peers who share job descriptions and responsibility. The irony of the superintendency is that while it is carried out by a person whose job most others do not understand or even care about, its effectiveness is totally dependent upon what others do. A large problem occurs when a…

In this article, the author shares his experience as a superintendent fortunate enough to be part of the Wallace Foundation's Project LEAD. Along with 11 other superintendents, he got to trade war stories with the likes of Ron Heifetz and other distinguished faculty members from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. The group's first…

This article presents a profile of Joe L. Wood, the current superintendent of South Windsor Connecticut and the previous superintendent of Berkshire Hills Regional Schools, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In South Windsor, Wood has presided effectively over what had been a rural school district of 3,000 students when he started in 1986 to one that's…

In this study, 206 teachers, 35 school board presidents, and 37 superintendents/principals (n = 278) were surveyed regarding their views of effective leadership behaviors demonstrated by school leaders with dual role responsibilities through serving as both a school principal and as a superintendent in small rural school districts. Data were…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of teachers and supervisors toward the principal leadership behaviors of female secondary principals in Ohio. Principal self-perceptions were also included to complete the study. The literature shows that women continue to be underrepresented in a field in which the majority of…

This article reports the two-year tenure of a woman superintendent in a small southern city. Placed against the background of local community politics and school district politics it shows that women in the superintendency still face issues of gender stereotyping that influence the way they are perceived as leaders of school systems. A feminist…

This research explored how 15 female superintendents from a southwestern state experienced issues of gender bias. Participants came from a mix of urban, rural, and suburban districts that varied in size from 150 to 25,000 students. Using in-depth interviews and a transcendental phenomenological qualitative approach, the researchers examined how…

Where should public school leaders be trained to become principals, supervisors, and superintendents? Traditionally, schools of education in universities have been responsible for training school administrators. This notion has been challenged by those advocating alternative choices for administrators in schools. Thus, the business and military…

One town in a countywide school district wants to provide additional financial support for its students. The ensuing debate over governance, finance, and authority strains relationships across the county as multiple political actors and interest groups take sides. The school superintendent takes steps to provide a peaceful resolution to the issue,…

When the five-member Board of the Alameda Unified School District selected Kirsten Vital as the new superintendent in 2009, they chose someone from outside their tight-knit community. Board Trustee Margie Sherratt thought Vital was chosen to "get us moving," to be a change agent on closing the achievement gap. Vital, in her initial…

This playbook draws from the findings of "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades," the largest empirical study of this grade level conducted to date. The "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" study was designed to find out what higher-performing schools do differently. The result is a compelling set of specific, actionable…

The purpose of this study will be to examine the policies and practices of two distinguished superintendents of the Chicago Public Schools: Dr. Joseph P. Hannon and the first African American female Superintendent Dr. Ruth Love. Hannon's four year administration extended from 1975 through 1979. Love's administration encompassed the years 1980…

Amid today's heightened attention on student achievement, school boards find their responsibilities intensified and transformed. In this age of accountability, all school boards need to consider how best to maintain a focus on student achievement and promote it through district and school policies. "The Essential School Board Book" answers this…

This study investigated the leadership orientation frames of school district superintendents in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, which are the only three states in the United States with both elected and appointed school district superintendents. The theoretical framework for this study was developed by Bolman and Deal's (1997) four frame…