The ideal superintendent candidate as viewed
by Illinois school board members and superintendents

By Dean Romano
Dean Romano Ed.D ., serves as the assistant superintendent for business services for Geneva CUSD 304. With over 12 years of experience in school business administration, he has served in numerous leadership capacities within the Illinois Association of School Business Officials and currently serves as a member of the board of directors.
 

The school superintendency has become a complex role holding the ultimate responsibility for the organization in which it serves. It has been ever-evolving, according to studies, since its inception in 1837. Today’s superintendents act as chief executive officers of the school board, engage in system leadership, provide personnel management, build and administer the school district budget, oversee the operations and maintenance of all facilities, and serve as leaders for the educational system and its stakeholders. With such a wide array of skills needed for success, individuals within the role must work diligently to meet the situational needs of every aspect of their school district.

The challenges of the role of superintendent have created a setting within the profession that finds the longevity of a superintendent within a single district to be limited. The work of William L. Sharp and James K. Walter refers to two studies that found the tenure of superintendents as four and 4.6 years in a given district for each study. In another study, overall career length for a superintendent was found as 7.9 years. With this level of turnover, board of education members are likely to be faced with the search and selection of a new superintendent — arguably the single most important responsibility of a school district board of education — during their elected term of office.

The research study used as the basis for this article used a mixed method design to extrapolate a vision for the ideal superintendent candidate for an Illinois school district. There were two separate phases during this research, the second building on the first.

A quantitative methodology gathered data from both Illinois superintendents and school board members through a survey. The resulting data were then analyzed to answer seven predefined questions that looked at perceptions of the ideal superintendent candidate. These questions separated perceptions between respondent characteristics for the purpose of better understanding variance between key factors. The researcher then used the quantitative findings to identify important and interesting findings from this analysis, which formed the basis for the second phase of the research.

Phase two followed a qualitative methodology that incorporated live interviews with intentionally selected participants from both the superintendent and school board member populations. The important and interesting findings pulled from phase one were wrapped into a series of interviews with each participant to build an enhanced understanding of the initial findings or uncover new perspectives from these participants. At the conclusion of these interviews, the data were reviewed and important themes identified. Each of these themes was then explored and explained using the voices of the participants to illustrate the findings.

Data analysis

The interview data provided insight into the quantitative findings for many of the superintendent standard subcomponents. This was particularly true with regards to the subcomponents found to be most important. In combining the top five most highly ranking standard subcomponents of both superintendents and school board members, seven subcomponents are identified as holding great importance. These standard subcomponents included

• Leadership Qualities (Ethics & Values);
• Strong Communication Skills;
• Planning for Future of School District;
• Community/Public Relations Skills;
• Finance and Budgeting Skills;
• School Board Relations; and
• Problem Solving.

Of these, Leadership Qualities (Ethics & Values) was ranked as the most important subcomponent for both superintendents and school board members.

The interview data and analysis provided rich insight into some of the large themes previously discussed. Within this analysis, three themes stand out, including

• Humor;
• Emotional Intelligence; and
• Balance.

To unpack each of these, it is important to identify which standard subcomponent they relate to. Humor is a combination of the subcomponents of both Strong Communication Skills and Community/Public Relations. Within the interview themes, it also closely ties with stakeholder relationships. One superintendent spoke of humor in that, “you have to be able to connect with people.”

Emotional Intelligence also relates to Strong Communication Skills. It connects with communication as part of receiving inference from another person to recognize their experience, so as to be able to better support their needs as emotions can and do impact behavior. Balance and Emotional Intelligence intertwine and tie back to Strong Communication Skills. Balance is the act of spreading one’s life out in such a way that each area of importance for an individual carries an appropriate level of focus. Establishing and maintaining some level of balance is critical. The effects of not doing so can have detrimental outcomes. The themes of Humor, Emotional Intelligence, and Balance appear to accentuate the importance of communication and relationship skills for success in the superintendency.

The final theme of significant interest pulled from both phases of the research was gender. Originally not planned for analysis, the data collected within the quantitative phase of the research study definitively identified that a variance in perceptions exists between male and female respondents. This is evident in the fact that 19 of the 22 standard subcomponents used in the survey were found to have a statistically significant relationship. This was more than any other factor analyzed in the study. Six of the 19 held a small-to-medium practical significance and one, Managerial Skills, held a medium practical significance. Because of these findings, questioning was included in the qualitative phase regarding perceptions relating to gender. Interestingly, when asked “How do you feel female and male superintendents differ in their priorities?” and “How do you feel female and male school board members differ in their priorities?” the respondents indicated that the demographic characteristic of gender did not have an impact on priorities. This finding was in stark contrast to the findings from the quantitative analysis.

The discrepant results from the quantitative and qualitative analyses pertaining to perceptions based on gender illuminate the need for further inquiry. Opinions collected by interview participants indicated that gender does not play a role in perception of superintendent success. However, perspectives of variance in leadership between men and women were identified within the quantitative analysis. Other studies within the literature have reported contradictory findings on gender differences. This study found this same contradiction within the quantitative and qualitative data findings.

Summary of Findings

The findings of this study yielded affirmations to other research. The overall findings of the survey upheld the importance given to the standard subcomponents based on the School Superintendents Association’s AASAProfessional Standards for the Superintendency. When given the opportunity for respondents to rank a standard subcomponent as “Not Important,” only four of the 22 subcomponents received this ranking more than 0.5 percent of the time, out of at least 785 respondents. These subcomponents included Collective Negotiation Skills, Focus on Instruction, Evaluation and Monitoring of Instruction, and Transportation Management Skills. Only the last, transportation management skills, received more than a 1 percent ranking of “Not Important,” with a 3.16 percent negative response ranking.

In other words, research shows every subcomponent is important.

The finding that the 22 standard subcomponents are all-important factors relating to superintendent candidacy establishes the scope and complexity of the role. In The Modern School Superintendent, Marvin E. Edwards explains that today’s superintendents act as chief executive officers of the school district, engage in system leadership, provide personnel management, build and administer the school district budget, oversee the operations and maintenance of all facilities, and serve as leaders for the educational system and its stakeholders. With this level of expectation, the superintendency holds high expectations for both skills and knowledge for candidates seeking the role. As such, the selection of a school superintendent is arguably the single most important responsibility of a school district’s board of education, according to Sharp and Walter.

Although all of the standard subcomponents were found to be important, several key themes stood out across both phases of the research. These themes were identified through consistency of ranking importance, emergent data, and variance identification. Within the ranking data, the standard subcomponent and theme of Leadership Qualities (Ethics & Values) was found to rank first within both the superintendent and school board populations and selected by each of the interview participants as one of the most important factors. The themes of Humor, Emotional Intelligence, and Balance emerged from the open-ended survey and interview data. Two final themes, Financial/Budgeting Skills and Gender, stand out due to their notable variance relationships within the data.

Leadership Qualities (Ethics & Values)

The findings from the research analysis for this study regarding leadership ethics and values fall directly in line with the literature findings. The Superintendent as CEO, by a team of authors led by J.R. Hoyle, describes the eighth standard from Superintendent Executive Assessment Model as executive leadership and personal values and ethics. Within the AASA Professional Standards for the Superintendency, the eighth standard is “Values and Ethics of Leadership.” When asked to select their top three subcomponents of the ideal superintendent candidate, each of the four respondents listed Leadership (Ethics & Values) in their top three most important factors. Within the selection process for the superintendency, nearly every school board candidate profile includes honesty and integrity as a desired qualification.

The professional role of the American school superintendent “has always possessed great moral authority beyond its legal bureaucratic and technological professional practices,” also according to The Superintendent as CEO. And, according to AASA, the ethical superintendent:

• Makes the well-being of the student the fundamental value of all decision-making and actions;
• Fulfills professional responsibilities with honesty and integrity;
• Supports the principle of due process and protects the civil and human rights of all individuals;
• Obeys local, state, and national laws and does not knowingly join or support organizations that advocate, directly or indirectly, the overthrow of the government;
• Implements the governing board of education’s policies and administrative rules and regulations;
• Pursues appropriate measures to correct those laws, policies, and regulations that are not consistent with sound educational goals;
• Avoids using his or her position for personal gain through political, social, religious, economic, and other influences;
• Accepts academic degrees or professional certification only from duly accredited institutions;
• Maintains the standards and seeks to improve the effectiveness of the profession through research and continuing professional development;
• Honors all contracts until fulfillment, release, or dissolution mutually agreed upon by all contracting parties.

“Effective educational leaders act ethically and according to professional norms to promote each student’s academic success and well-being,” according to the National Policy Board for Educational Administration. It is particularly important for superintendents to “display both personal and professional integrity,” according to K.T. Worner in Success in the Superintendency. Similarly, the superintendent must be a moral and ethical practitioner as it is a position of responsibility and trust, according to The Superintendent as CEO, which also contends that CEO superintendents are responsible for establishing and maintaining the ethical and moral conduct of staff and students.

As found within the analyses of this study, leadership and ethics are intertwined with success in the superintendency.

As an individual serving as a superintendent, it is critical to establish a core foundational set of values as a guide. “Each superintendent must establish a few moral precepts that he or she will practice at all times,” says the Hoyle team in The Superintendent as CEO. They should carefully consider their actions each day and ask themselves “Does this promote trust and show integrity?” Forming a personal set of ethics and morals matched with characteristics, such as being “truthful, honest, sincere, open and professional at all times to all people in all things” to become, as much as possible, exemplary role models for their district and community. Individual character stands as tied to personal success.

“Behaving with the utmost personal and professional integrity as a superintendent is not only important, it is essential,” according to Success in the Superintendency. Superintendents who possess and demonstrate strong leadership and ethics can build and receive trust and support from their stakeholders. Individuals who have practiced the ideal of public openness may suffer some discomfort but, “in the end, the community is likely to support their honesty,” as stated in The Superintendent as CEO and further that “people will follow leaders with integrity and trust leaders who deserve trust and have earned it through past actions... They are also more likely to gain the support of a community trying to ‘size up’ the individual to who they are entrusting the education of their children.”

Humor

As discussed earlier, individuals who possess humor benefit from it. The complicated role of the superintendent needs to be able to connect with internal and external stakeholders at a basic, human level. “The beauty of humor is that in order for to be effective it must be shared,” said C.B. Crawford in Strategic Humor in Leadership: Practical Suggestions for Appropriate Use. Crawford states that “humor is a verbal or nonverbal activity eliciting a positive cognitive or affective response from listeners.” As such, humor is a form of communication that can elicit positive outcomes within a school district. Other works show humor can be used to release strain and tension for those exposed to it and assist in maintaining and improving the health of the organization.

Emotional Intelligence

The data analysis demonstrated that emotional intelligence also plays a part in superintendent success. In Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman states that “the most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way; they all have a high degree of what has become known as emotional intelligence.” This knowledge of individuals and how to connect with them feeds the relationship and trust between teams and community. A level of understanding can be attained, which may not be found were it not for the intrinsic benefit of the leader to protect people from shutting down, respecting their emotional needs.

 “Leadership, which embraces the emotional side of directing organizations, pumps life and meaning into management structures, bringing them to full life, ” according to Jeffery A. Barach and D. Reed Eckhardt in Leadership and the Job of the Executive.

Balance

The qualitative data identified the need for balance for superintendents. Studies confirm this claim: “It is neither effective nor healthy to work hard and be on the go constantly , ” say Carter and Cunningham. In So You Want to Be a Superintendent, William Hayes contends that a superintendent needs to have a life outside of the office to provide the opportunity to focus outside of the job, “Time off provides administrators the opportunity for relaxation, reflection, and additional experience with family and friends”. Hayes also expounds that “one cannot emphasize too much the need for a well-rounded lifestyle that allows the superintendent to become a complete human being.”

Financial/budgeting skills

While financial and budgeting skills were found to be important within the research analysis, a particular variance was identified and worthy of highlighting. The quantitative analysis identified that the level of importance placed on finance and budgeting skills was not as high for participants in large (3,500+ students) districts than for the overall rankings, or that of any other respondent characteristic comparison. This was also the single largest variance found within the quantitative findings. Similar findings were identified in research by M.A. Cataldo in Virginia in 2011, in which larger school divisions ranked financial budgetary skills lower than smaller school divisions. In The Modern School Superintendent, Edwards highlights this topic, stating that the “larger the district, the less likely it is that the superintendent will have the time to personally monitor the accuracy of the financial reports.” This consistency between the study and the existing literature affirms that larger school districts may hold less significance for superintendent candidacy, regarding financial/budgeting skills, than other districts.

Gender

As discussed earlier, a marked variance appeared between the findings concerning gender within the quantitative and qualitative analyses. This inconsistency between the survey data and interview data is notable. In no other comparison of the data did a clear discrepancy exist, nor should it be viewed as an anomaly because other studies within the literature have reported contradictory findings on gender differences. The unique varying perspectives and leadership attributes of superintendents, based on gender, appear minor in most cases but have been found to be evident.

Situational Leadership

Returning to the lens of situational leadership used to analyze the qualitative data, it is important to emphasize the connection found between the leadership framework and the findings. Many of the highlighted themes presented in this research support a situational leadership framework to be used by superintendents to guide their school district. The use of this framework complements the vast scope of the role in that each area of responsibility holds differing needs. Examples include providing instructional leadership at an individual level to principals, through dialogue that supports their needs, and bolstering stakeholder relationships by attending to the unique needs of differing groups. The themes of emotional intelligence and balance support the model by providing understanding to the superintendent of both stakeholders and self.

While situational leadership was used as the theoretical framework for qualitative data review, the theoretical framework generated an outcome of the study in which situational leadership became the means by which aspiring superintendents could frame their efforts within each of the Key Indicators and themes...

In honing leadership skills, recognizing both the needs of a unique audience and the needs within a topic of discussion becomes critical in navigating how best to interact with team members. In “Leadership That Gets Results,” Goleman identifies six leadership styles within situational leadership. “Each derives from different emotional intelligence competencies, works best in particular situations, and affects the organizational climate in different ways.”... providing a better understanding of when each is best utilized. There is a higher likelihood of success when a superintendent possesses the discernment to know which leadership style to utilize with a staff member, given their unique needs and the topic at hand.

Conclusion

The findings from this study can inform the education profession in three distinct ways. To begin, from these analyses aspiring superintendent candidates can draw an informed perspective of what current superintendents, and the school board members who hire them, believe is most important in selecting the ideal superintendent candidate. Second, this understanding can provide a roadmap for superintendent candidates to find the professional development and experiences needed to expand their skills and abilities, as well as to be more reflective in their practice regarding the most intrinsic items. Third, when looking to hire a new superintendent, these insights into the ideal superintendent candidate can provide school board members a starting place for the important discussion leading to the development of their superintendent candidate profile.