Offers suggestions to superintendents on allotting leisure time, evaluating new or innovative proposals, using staff evaluation as a tool for professional development, keeping management schemes sensitive to people, and using teamwork to capitalize on individual strengths and minimize weaknesses. (Author/WD)

A superintendent evaluation should focus on four elements: curriculum improvement, educational management, community relations, and fiscal affairs. (JM)

Questionnaires asking for actual and ideal perceptions of the role of school psychologist were completed by 80 school psychologists, 37 directors of pupil personnel services, and 29 superintendents. All groups desired a reduction in the time spent in assessment, but they differed as to what intervention levels should be increased. (Author)

Superintendents who are knowledgeable about the law, understand its application to school operations, and provide ongoing training of site administrators are less likely to be mired in threatened lawsuits. The school attorney should be a valued, but not pivotal resource driving administrative decision making. Legal basics (including pitfalls)…

Describes four-step process suburban school district in central Texas used to hire a new superintendent: Collaborate with all stakeholders, create a profile based on stakeholder input, communicate the profile to a broad base, and interview candidates with a clarity of purpose based on the profile. (Contains 22 references.)(PKP)

Compares two superintendent searches for the River Dell School District in New Jersey: One conducted primarily by a professional recruiting firm; the other by the board, a search firm, and a community search committee. Concludes that adding a community search committee is inefficient and divisive. (PKP)

Examined conditions of school superintendency that make it attractive or unattractive as a career move for principals in Ohio. Responses from 508 principals show that the ability to make a difference and extrinsic motivators (e.g., salary and benefits) make the superintendency attractive, while increased responsibility, accountability…

Discusses how, as they struggle to improve academically and manage their facilities and finances more effectively, some school systems--especially large urban districts--are seeking out leaders with business expertise outside the field of education. Includes sidebars on one such leader and on schools that have chosen this path. (EV)

Describes process for recruiting, selecting, hiring, and supporting qualified principals. Includes pre-position posting procedures that include topics such as expectations, job description, support, communications, incentives, and the search team. Describes interviewing process, post-hiring measures, and helping the principal succeed. (PKP)

Describes issues in superintendent hiring process and school-board role in sustaining success for new superintendents. Reports findings of survey of 54 new Indiana superintendents about their recruitment and interviewing experiences and the "honeymoon period" of their early employment. Finds, for example, that one-third of superintendents reported…

Describes four principles to guide superintendents' presentation of data to their schools boards: Insist the board establish districtwide goals for student achievement; assist the board in receiving customized training on analyzing data related to student-outcome goals; insist the board adopt a code-of-conduct policy on data use; and provide data…

Describes efforts by school superintendents to develop dress codes for school employees. Describes link between teacher dress and student decorum. Includes excerpts from staff dress codes from three school districts: Goose Creek Consolidated School District, Baytown, Texas; Denver Public Schools, Colorado; Wake County Public Schools, Raleigh,…

Qualitative study involving the attitudes of 12 Northwest superintendents (four each from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho)toward site-based management. Finds among other things that in most cases school-based management has had little influence on the centralization of authority and control by the superintendent. (Contains 16 references.) (PKP)

Argues that courageous, passionate, visionary, ethical leaders (especially school board members and superintendents), who understand the appropriate use of power and are politically astute, are needed to achieve systemic educational improvement in their school districts. (Contains 23 references.) (PKP)

Although no school leader likes media coverage of sensitive issues, handling them forthrightly and candidly benefits everyone. The three major facets of an effective media campaign include realistic expectations of the media, personalizing media relations, and controlling both access and message. (MLH)