Factors influencing the tenure of superintendents as perceived by superintendents and school board presidents in Texas
Abstract
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership.
The current national average tenure for superintendents is between 2.75 and 4.00 years. Since the organizational chain of command in Texas places the human resources management of the superintendent in the hands of elected school board members, it is imperative that superintendents understand the factors that contribute to their tenure. The study was conducted to document the factors that affect superintendent tenure as perceived by superintendents and school board presidents in Texas. The study was descriptive in nature. The Organizational and Leadership Effectiveness Inventory (OLEI) was used to document the importance of factors that contribute to tenure, using a 4-point Likert-type scaling. There were 207 superintendents and 49 school board presidents who participated in the study. At the item level, the superintendents ranked the importance of nine OLEI characteristics higher than did the school board presidents, namely, 1) high energy, 2) combining social talk with administrator talk, 3) intuitive, 4) flexibility/adaptability, 5) being reflective, 6) power sharing (in the context of leadership behaviors), 7) leadership that is affected by the expectations of the community, 8) power sharing (in the context of organizational structure), and 9) emphasizing collegiality. The school board presidents ranked risk taking higher than did the superintendents. At the scale level, both the superintendents and school board presidents held Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values as the most important factor in relation to the tenure of the superintendent, followed by Leadership Behavior, Organizational Structure, and External Forces. The four OLEI factors were not useful in explaining the variation in average tenure. The Texas Association of School Boards personnel who train school board members to work effectively with superintendents and assist school boards in selecting new superintendents may use the results of the study on revising their strategies. The results may also help search firms in recruiting superintendents as they may be used to let perspective superintendents know what school boards are looking for. Likewise, the Texas Association of School Administrators may use the results in training superintendents to work effectively with school board presidents. The results are also useful to anyone (e.g., school districts, specialist, and university faculty) who is responsible to develop professional development training for new superintendents and school board members.
Educational Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction
College of Education and Human Development
The current national average tenure for superintendents is between 2.75 and 4.00 years. Since the organizational chain of command in Texas places the human resources management of the superintendent in the hands of elected school board members, it is imperative that superintendents understand the factors that contribute to their tenure. The study was conducted to document the factors that affect superintendent tenure as perceived by superintendents and school board presidents in Texas. The study was descriptive in nature. The Organizational and Leadership Effectiveness Inventory (OLEI) was used to document the importance of factors that contribute to tenure, using a 4-point Likert-type scaling. There were 207 superintendents and 49 school board presidents who participated in the study. At the item level, the superintendents ranked the importance of nine OLEI characteristics higher than did the school board presidents, namely, 1) high energy, 2) combining social talk with administrator talk, 3) intuitive, 4) flexibility/adaptability, 5) being reflective, 6) power sharing (in the context of leadership behaviors), 7) leadership that is affected by the expectations of the community, 8) power sharing (in the context of organizational structure), and 9) emphasizing collegiality. The school board presidents ranked risk taking higher than did the superintendents. At the scale level, both the superintendents and school board presidents held Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values as the most important factor in relation to the tenure of the superintendent, followed by Leadership Behavior, Organizational Structure, and External Forces. The four OLEI factors were not useful in explaining the variation in average tenure. The Texas Association of School Boards personnel who train school board members to work effectively with superintendents and assist school boards in selecting new superintendents may use the results of the study on revising their strategies. The results may also help search firms in recruiting superintendents as they may be used to let perspective superintendents know what school boards are looking for. Likewise, the Texas Association of School Administrators may use the results in training superintendents to work effectively with school board presidents. The results are also useful to anyone (e.g., school districts, specialist, and university faculty) who is responsible to develop professional development training for new superintendents and school board members.
Educational Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction
College of Education and Human Development