The relationship between a superintendent and the school board is a key element in determining the tenure of the superintendent (Barth, 2003; Hoyle, English, & Steffy, 1998; Glass & Franceschini, 2007; Hess, 2002; Mountford, 2008), and superintendent tenure often determines the ability of school districts to make necessary improvements…

This study used a descriptive qualitative design utilizing a phenomenological approach to determine and examine the reasons behind the voluntary or involuntary turnover of Arizona school superintendents. Open-ended questions were used to interview five superintendents who had left their districts between 2008 and 2013 about their perceptions on…

In this case, a new superintendent has communicated what he perceives as a needed change affecting students and teachers on several campuses and a seemingly short timeline for making the decision to move off a block schedule. The abrupt nature of the announcement, combined with the circumstances surrounding the superintendent's recent hiring has…

This qualitative interpretivist research study focused on understanding perceived superintendent self-efficacy and instructional leadership in school districts that have persistently failed to serve students of color and that also may have contributed to persistent student achievement inequities and achievement gaps. This study yielded three…

Rural school districts play an important part in the national educational landscape. Not only do they provide nearly one in four U.S. children with many skills, including those needed to enter college, but they also act as an economic stabilization force for the communities that they serve. Superintendents of rural school districts, as the leaders…

This study describes core dispositions of school district superintendents who have been identified as technology savvy leaders by a prominent educational technology newspaper. The superintendents in this study described how they accomplished their technology initiatives and offered suggestions for other superintendents who aspire to be more…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the professional norms surrounding school development, with a special emphasis on school principals' pedagogical leadership. Design/methodology/approach: A norm perspective is used to identify possible links between legal norms, professional norms, and actions. The findings are based on…

Education systems worldwide have served as a nation-building apparatus and national consciousness facilitators since the appearance of the modern nation-state. With the emergence of globalization in recent decades, however, a growing presence of cosmopolitanism and internationalization can be traced in education policy and school curricula.…

During recent decades, the rise of the global economy launched a wide array of social, economic, and political changes in nations throughout the world. Heightened concern about the quality of schools launched what is arguably the most pervasive, intense, and protracted attempts at educational reform in recent history. Examinations of the…

The mandate for school boards to develop self-identification policies for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students is part of the 2007 Ministry of Education's "Ontario First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework." In this paper, we share findings from a larger study on the Framework that examines Métis student…

The EDAD (Educational Department of Administration) at Ashland University has developed an online graduate course program for candidates, desiring to receive the Ohio superintendent's license. The online program is in the first year of implementation and the department's faculty is continuously looking to enrich and further develop the courses for…

The primary research question addressed in this paper is: What ISLLC 2008 Standards "functions" are considered to be the most important by a national sample of school superintendents when applied to the process of principal evaluation? A Friedman Test for related samples on the Standards "functions" determined that the five most important…

The year 1968 denotes a particularly salient moment in American history, not least because it marks the year in which the Civil Rights movement lost its charismatic leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. The assassination of King on April 4, 1968, resulted in widespread and spontaneous uprisings across the country, including one in Kansas City. Not…

This study examined the characteristics of teacher applicants that are sought by public school systems in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Superintendents of each of the public school districts in the Commonwealth were surveyed. A total of 99 respondents completed the survey (n = 99). This response rate of 57.2% was well-above the average for…

Reports in the media on American public schools are pretty dismal. Accountability measures enacted with the passing of the No Child Left Behind Law of 2002 include federal and state sanctions for school districts not making adequate yearly progress on state assessments. Typically these results are published locally, which only increases the…