Steeped in a distinctive view of leadership, graduates of the Broad Superintendents Academy have landed some of public education's top jobs. In this article, the author features the Broad Superintendents Academy, a program established by Eli Broad's Foundation which spends roughly $45,000 to train each of the business executives, military…

When confronted with the problems of urban school districts, such as an ever-increasing achievement gap, the underfunding of school districts, increased shortages of qualified teachers, greater emphasis on accountability, and the loss of public confidence, African American superintendents have considerable difficulty leading their school…

Amidst the hustle and bustle and stress and strain of their professional lives, public school leaders often put their own physical well-being at the bottom of the priority list. What they forget is how important physical health is to their overall health and effectiveness as leaders. The author invited five veteran school system leaders to…

What are the financial rewards and job protection provisions currently being negotiated into superintendent employment contracts? This article presents the results of a study of superintendents' contracts in three states--South Carolina, Florida, and North Carolina. All 268 superintendents in the three states were surveyed and an analysis made for…

This article presents an interview with Jim Hirsch, an associate superintendent for technology at Plano Independent School District in Plano, Texas. Hirsch serves as a liaison for the open technologies committee of the Consortium for School Networking. In this interview, he shares his opinion on the significance of open source in K-12.

As the nation emerged from the Great Depression and as the world hurtled toward a Second World War, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) re-examined the purpose of American Education. AASA joined with the National Education Association to convene an Education Policies Commission that set forth "four great groups of…

This case presents contemporary issues confronting a school district where school leaders must take a role in leading staff to develop greater insight into issues of social justice. The story is set in a suburban village school district that has recently seen an influx of immigrants moving into the community. The school district needs to change…

This article examines a partnership that developed among a superintendent, a community college administrator, and a four-year college administrator to deliver secondary and postsecondary education to a Midwestern high school district and its neighboring communities. This partnership helped transform the process of transition from high school to…

The position of the superintendency is a critical and influential one. It sets the strategic goals for teaching and learning for school divisions throughout the United States. It serves as a role model for future school leaders. The educational programs provided to students in public schools have a significant impact on the success of our youth.…

The American education system is failing Latina/o students. Despite their significant representation in the student population, Latina/o students struggle in overcrowded, under-resourced schools and are too often limited to vocational curricula instead of college-bound options. About half of Latina/o students complete their K-12 education, and…

Reflective practice in professional education stands in sharp contrast to the assumptions underlying the more commonly used traditional supervisory models. This paper presents findings of a study that examined administrator use of a reflection-on-action process to build a climate of reflection and dialogue. Methodology included a case study of one…

Reassessment of the role of the superintendent largely has been excluded from the educational reform movement of the 1980s. This paper contends that superintendents must utilize a new "leaderly" model of active instructional leadership in superintending to improve the education of students. The paper is a tool for those working to…

This paper reviews the results of two studies on rural superintendents' attitudes toward school choice. A 1990 survey of 824 superintendents in Arkansas, Iowa, and Minnesota, where school choice had been implemented for 1-2 years, found that slightly more than half favored legislation permitting parents and their children to choose schools outside…

The district superintendent's instructional leadership has emerged as a critical issue in ongoing efforts to reform schools. To elaborate on this trend, an exploratory case study that focused on the perceived and actual leadership characteristics and actions of district superintendents is presented here. For the study, indepth interviews were…

Findings of a study that examined the exiting superintendent phenomenon are presented in this paper. Interviews were conducted with five state administrator association executives from California, Massachusetts, Florida, Colorado, and Indiana. Findings indicate that a trend of exiting superintendents does exist; however, the trend varies by state.…