Colorado's 178 district superintendents are embroiled in a polite, yet pointed debate with Commissioner of Education William J. Moloney and the state school board over the state's role in helping districts raise student achievement. In this article, the author discusses Colorado district superintendents' grievances. They are calling for more…

In Fall 2008, in response to the recent economic downturn, as evidenced in state budget shortfalls, federal buy-outs and interventions, and a series of additional events characterizing a slowing, stagnant economy, AASA examined the impact on school districts across the nation. While there are regional differences, the findings of AASA's…

Based on a survey of 158 educational leaders situated in public schools, the level of educational leadership, whether a school superintendent or a principal in a secondary, middle-school, or elementary school, was not a significant factor in operational online strategies utilized or benchmarks relied upon for determining the credibility of…

Background: School leaders must make sense of the messages they receive from multiple, overlapping contexts of their school environments. Equally important, they must shape meaning of school issues and events with and for other school members. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which school leaders defined and made sense…

By December 1968, the Anaheim Family Life and Sex Education (FLSE) program, celebrated since its formal introduction in 1965 as one of the most progressive in the nation, was being smeared as communistic and perverse. Local activists in this Orange County city had been congregating in hotel rooms and homes, screening cautionary films for the…

The present article, a cross-case analysis, analyzes one aspect of the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that has generated conflict between the U.S. Department of Education and the federal court system. The conflicts arose between the courts' oversight of desegregation and the implementation of the public school choice…

When Palmdale School District and Pivot Learning Partners entered into their first contract in 2006, neither organization foresaw the magnitude and complexity the relationship would take over time. Pivot Learning Partners (formerly known as Springboard Schools) is a non-profit service provider that first entered the Palmdale School District…

Despite the passage of affirmative-action legislation over the last 25 years, the percentage of women school superintendents has increased at a very slow pace. This paper compares the results of three separate research studies that examined women superintendents in Pennsylvania. One study was conducted in 1985 and the other two were conducted in…

A recent study conducted by a midwestern university research center surveyed 47 school districts who were members of a university-school district collaborative. Respondents indicated that the changing roles of teachers and principals were an important issue. This paper presents findings of a subsequent study based on indepth interviews with the…

This paper presents the insights of superintendents about the school restructuring process in Kentucky and its likely effects. Data were derived from a focus group held with 24 members of the Kentucky Educational Development Corporation (KEDC), and from a survey of 48 superintendents, of which 35 responded. A majority of respondents expressed…

Little research has investigated the effects of school restructuring on the roles of central office administrators, particularly the superintendent. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the perceptions of superintendents in Kentucky, whose State Legislature passed a statewide systemic reform initiative, the Kentucky Education…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined Mississippi public school superintendents' attitudes toward persons with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). A survey mailed to 153 Mississippi superintendents yielded 107 returns, a 70 percent rate. The instrument was called the…

This handbook offers observations from the superintendent's viewpoint about the evaluation responsibilities of school board members and school boards. The handbook describes important features of the evaluation role of school boards and offers a detailed description of what the board should evaluate within the context of the districts--who the…

This publication contains three articles that examine the changing role of the urban superintendent. The first presents highlights of interviews with Dr. Walter Amprey, superintendent of the Baltimore City Public Schools, and Dr. Donald Ingwerson, who served 12 years as the superintendent of the Jefferson County, Kentucky, Public Schools. Each…

This document summarizes a book that provided a detailed synthesis of current thinking, research, and practice in superintendent performance evaluation. It also outlines a new evaluation model designed to overcome the weaknesses of existing models while building on their strengths. The focus is on the evaluation of on-the-job performance of school…