Singing the same tune. Principals’ and school board members’ perceptions of the superintendent’s role as instructional leader
| Pages | 158-171 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230210421114 |
| Published date | 01 April 2002 |
| Date | 01 April 2002 |
| Author | George J. Petersen |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Journal of
Educational
Administration
40,2
158
Journal of Educational
Administration,
Vol. 40 No. 2, 2002, pp. 158-171.
#MCB UP Limited, 0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/09578230210421114
Received March 2001
Accepted July 2001
Singing the same tune
Principals' and school board members'
perceptions of the superintendent's role
as instructional leader
George J. Petersen
University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Keywords Instructors, Leadership, Schools, Education, Organizations, USA
Abstract Understanding the multifaceted roles and responsibilities of the district
superintendent as an instructional leader has proved to be a long-standing and sometimes
elusive endeavor. In spite of the consistency of research findings, instructional leadership
remains one of the more controversial characteristics associated with the examination of the
district superintendent. The findings reported here are part of a larger study on the role and
responsibilities of the superintendent as an instructional leader. Specifically, this investigation
examined the covariance between school principals' and school board members' views of
the instructional leadership of the district superintendent.Resultsfromthiscorrelational
and regression analysis empirically illustrate a statistically significant relationship
between superintendent vision and the factors of organizational mission, program and
personnel evaluation, principal decision-making and school board/community involvement.
The findings also suggest that involvement of professional educators and members of the
community in formulating instructional programs significantly affects the success of the
district leader.
Understanding the multifaceted roles and responsibilities of the district
superintendent as instructional leader has proven to be a long-standing and
sometimes elusive endeavor. In spite of the consistency of research findings,
instructional leadership remains one of the more controversial
characteristics associated with the examination of the district
superintendent (Lezotte, 1994). Even as top ranked programs of educational
administration strive toward major reform in the training of school leaders,
the bulk of these reforms rarely focused on issues in instructional
leadership. Indeed, one mid-1990s study from the influential University
Council of Educational Administration (Pohland and Carson, 1992), ranked
instructional leadership 17th out of the top 23 subject matter areas offered
at the member institutions of UCEA. Even the widely advocated topic of the
1980s, instructional supervision, tied for ninth in this survey. It is because of
this that we find ourselves in a field where the theoretical and conceptual
base is relatively large but the empirical evidence is in short supply. The
current climate and emphasis on the reform and restructuring of the US
educational system has placed an enormous amount of political pressure on
schools to demonstrate effective leadership at the district level. A critical
indicator of that leadership effectiveness is the transformation of the core
technology of curriculum and instruction. Districts must provide powerful,
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