It is widely known that gender bias persists in male-dominated fields. Gender bias is often defined as acts that position one prototypical social group over another (Begeny et al., 2020; Gloor et al., 2020; Roberts & Brown, 2019; Scheifele et al., 2021). It is unknown how male superintendents mentor women while established in their…

Many district and school leaders have leveraged instructional leadership or social justice leadership to advance student achievement for minoritized students. While research has examined these approaches separately, we identify a potential gap at the nexus between instructional and social justice leadership. In particular, we need further research…

Curriculum adoption and implementation is not a onetime event for districts and schools. It is a multi-year process involving district leadership in multiple units (e.g., curriculum office, finance office, superintendent office, student services), school leadership, instructional staff, students and their caregivers, and other relevant community…

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

This doctoral dissertation examines the relationship among the three components of organizational commitment: affective, continuance and normative, job satisfaction, and turnover intent of New Jersey superintendents. Additionally, it examines the interplay between job satisfaction and organizational commitment, exploring whether job satisfaction…

The existing gap between females in the field of education and those in the highest levels of leadership persists, with women only making up 27% of the superintendency nationally. This study, informed by Tallerico's (2000a) conceptual framework, sought to determine how one's own individual agency, educational structures (like sponsorship), and the…

Background: The perceptions K-12 school administrators hold of parental STEM awareness, strategies to promote STEM awareness, and student STEM preparation are critical as these are the individuals who must make significant decisions regarding STEM curricula, STEM programming and funding, and STEM school reform. Purpose: The present research study…

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a crisis that district superintendents and their leadership teams had not before experienced. In a matter of weeks, school systems needed to transition away from a traditional learning model, where teaching and learning occurred in a physical classroom, to a virtual learning environment. School districts were…

In keeping with the special issue centered on Gender and Race in the Workplace, this article explores the role that the intersection of race and gender played in the attainment of the superintendency for four Black women superintendents. Despite their increasing presence in educational leadership, Black women continue to experience marginalization…

School superintendents face numerous challenges, high demands, and pressures from the community, school board, and stakeholders. State and federal accountability policies and mandates contribute to rising levels of stress for superintendents, which negatively affects their health and well-being. As a result, superintendents are leaving their…

Educational policy in the United States in the past decade has focused on eliminating the achievement gap by establishing legislation orienting educators toward research-based evidence and increased accountability at all levels of the system (Daly, Liou et al., 2014). Educational leaders play an important role in initiating and maintaining change,…

As presented in the qualitative research study, women represent only 27% of all 14,000 superintendents nationally (American Association of School Administrators [AASA], 2020) and 30% in New York State (NYS Council of School Superintendents [NYSCOSS], Snapshot IX, 2015). This study was based on a qualitative description design, in which the…

School superintendents face complex issues on a regular basis, these issues include but are not limited to scarce resources, the politics of the school board and conflicting demands from the community (Noppe, Yager, Webb, & Sheng, 2013). In March 2020, the United States faced an unprecedented event when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many…

Trust is never more important than during a crisis. For years, researchers have been studying trust in organizations and schools, focusing on the principal and teacher relationship and its impact on school climate. The literature has been less focused, however, on the superintendent and principal relationship--and the role trust plays within that…

As schools continue to battle with calls for reform and restructuring, understanding important aspects of change leadership is needed in explaining factors that facilitate successful implementation of planned changes in schools. Certain personal and school district characteristics have been reported in the literature as having impact or influence…