Superintendent Emotional Intelligence and Student Achievement: A Quantitative Study

The quality of leadership is reflected in the achievements of the organization. Effective leadership draws upon both cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence. The skills related to emotional intelligence can be developed through focused effort. This quantitative study explored the relationship between Texas public school district superintendents’ emotional intelligence and student achievement, controlling for the effect of district size, proportion of economically disadvantaged students of the districts, and length of the superintendent’s employment. Every public school superintendent in Texas was invited to participate in the study by completing the online MSCEIT. The data file included 211 of the 1024 eligible superintendents. The Management branch of the MSCEIT significantly correlated with AEIS, as well as the percent of economically disadvantaged students. By better understanding the influence of the superintendents’ emotional intelligence on the students’ academic success, enlightenment will inform decision making at the superintendent level and its effect on student achievement.