The change-ready leadership of technology-savvy superintendents
| Date | 13 May 2019 |
| Pages | 227-242 |
| Published date | 13 May 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-09-2018-0160 |
| Author | William L. Sterrett,Jayson W. Richardson |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
The change-ready leadership of
technology-savvy superintendents
William L. Sterrett
Department of Educational Leadership, Watson College of Education,
University of North Carolina at Wilmington,
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, and
Jayson W. Richardson
Department of Educational Leadership Studies,
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to help the researchers sought to take a closer look at the technology
challenges facing district superintendents in today’s leadership climate.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors chose semi-structured interviews as the data collection
method. Through 45 min, one-on-one, semi-structured telephone interviews, the researchers were able to
collect data about overcoming the challenges of being a modern technology-savvy superintendent.
Findings –Through the analysis, the authors identified four themes related to the challenges faced by these
district leaders, including meeting the needs of stakeholders, supporting professional development, fostering
mindset changes and addressing a fear of the unknown.
Research limitations/implications –This study only relied on interviews and did not examine evidence
from the field, such as site visits or artifact examination.
Practical implications –This study provides the field with insights into the role of the change-ready
district leaders who foster lasting technology-infused transformation.
Social implications –While challenges for any district leader wishing to make long-lasting change exist,
there are district leaders today who embody second-order change leadership when overcoming the challenge
of school technology leadership. These technology-savvy superintendents play an important role as
whole-system change agents.
Originality/value –This study highlighted that there many district leaders today who embody second-
order change leadership in helping move their districts forward.
Keywords Administration, Superintendent, Technology leadership, District leadership
Paper type Research paper
Technology-driven innovations present new challenges for leading modern school districts.
Today’s superintendents are uniquely positioned to leverage their role in ways that can
dramatically impact the success of staff and students. These leaders serve as “learning
engineers”who seek to solve problems that are facing students, teachers and building
principals. These learning leaders consider existing research and formulate more effective
and efficient ways to promote and support teaching and learning across their unique
districts (Hess and Saxberg, 2014). Thus, district leaders are charged with enabling their
organizations, and the people within, to anticipate and respond to unique challenges and
varied opportunities that are ever-evolving in a learning community (Sanford, 2017).
One such challenge faced by district superintendents is keeping up with technological
innovations. Research has shown that superintendents who adapt their roles to embrace
technological shifts face dire challenges such as financial barriers, infrastructure upgrades
and addressing stakeholders’fears regarding change (Sauers et al., 2014). Shifts in the
formal learning climates of P-12 schools intersect with what some scholars call a “fourth
industrial revolution”in which greater automation, connectivity and increased productivity
present new and different learning opportunities (Sheninger and Murray, 2017, p. 14).
Wagner and Dintersmith (2015) observed that in recent years, society and education have
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 57 No. 3, 2019
pp. 227-242
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-09-2018-0160
Received 8 September 2018
Revised 10 January 2019
6 March 2019
9 March 2019
Accepted 9 March 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
227
The change-
ready
leadership
been changed through the internet, going from a period of “knowledge scarcity”(p. 27)
where schools and libraries housed information to an era of “innovation and opportunity”
(p. 26) where knowledge is a free commodity.
The superintendent’s role is influenced by rapid technological advancements. The role
thus demands strong digital leadership from superintendents who can foster a strong vision
regarding technology initiatives that align resources, increase academic rigor, sustain
ongoing professional development and support learning communities (Consortium for
School Networking, 2014). Hence, the modern P-12 superintendent must be a digital
innovator by the changing nature of both the educational and the technological landscape.
Through this study, the researchers sought to take a closer look at the technology
challenges facing district superintendents in the USA considering today’sleadership
climate. Building on earlier research that examined the first decade of award-winning
technology-savvy superintendents in the USA (2000–2010) (see Sauers et al., 2014) and
further augmenting our comparative study of shifts in district technology leadership from
2001 to 2014 (Richardson and Sterrett, 2018), this study takes a closer look at 14 recipients
of the eSchoolNews Tech-Savvy Superintendent Award from the years 2011 to 2014.
These superintendents are recognized as innovative, forward-thinking digital leaders in
their district. This study focuses on the challenges facing technology-savvy
superintendents today.
Literature review
A following review of the literature provides context into the role of district leadership,
trends in school technology leadership and innovation, and resultant shifts during an
innovation era. Building professional capacity in districts and schools to meet the ever-
changing needs of students and teachers is also discussed.
Role of school district leaders in the USA
Today’s superintendents have progressed through teacher, principal and graduate-level
credentialing largely absent of any formal school technology leadership training (McLeod
et al., 2015). For example, in recent years the graduate courses perceived to have the highest
levels of importance to educational leaders were school law, school finance, school
community relations and human resource management. The most valued professional
development opportunities were law/legal issues, finance, personnel management, school
reform/improvement, superintendent–board relations and school–community relations
(Kowalski et al., 2011).
Likewise, the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (National Policy Board for
Educational Administration, 2015) explicitly notes the importance of “effective use of
technology in teaching and learning”(p. 12) as well as fostering “continuous improvement of
individual and collective instructional capacity to achieve outcomes”(p. 14). The standards
also state that a core skill is the ability to “envision those future challenges and
opportunities so educational leaders can succeed in the future”(p. 3). Additionally, the
International Society for Technology in Education (2019) Standards for Education Leaders
note that school leaders should “create a culture where teachers and learners are empowered
to use technology in innovative ways to enrich teaching and learning”(para. 3), “build teams
and systems to implement, sustain, and continually improve the use of technology to
support learning”(para. 4) and “model and promote continuous professional learning for
themselves and others”(para. 5). Although these practices are found in various sets of
standards, and to a lesser extent in the literature, they require a shift in thinking, an upgrade
of skill sets and a refinement of dispositions.
The research of Waters and Marzano (2007) indicates that student achievement
significantly relates to district leadership practices of: setting goals; focusing on achievement
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