Date of Award
8-2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ded)
Abstract
This research project was designed to determine whether or not sharing a superintendent had an effect on the perceived performance of a superintendent. Perceptions of school board members, superintendents, and principals were used to make conclusions. Various factors need to be taken into account when sharing a superintendent. Factors include: the cost benefit of sharing, whether the superintendent lives in district, the amount of the superintendent's time in each school district, and the superintendent dealing with two separate governance bodies.
Schools districts in North Dakota are faced with a difficult puzzle of finding creative ways to deal with the rising cost of education and the declining numbers of students. fu order to deal with this dilemma, some school districts are looking at sharing administrative costs by sharing superintendents. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine which of the six performance domains for superintendents identified by AASA are affected when school districts move into a shared superintendency situation. The research project is based on AASA' s Superintendent Evaluation Handbook by DiPaola and Stronge (2003). The book was written to help schools evaluate superintendents in a systematic manner.
Data were collected by means of a survey instrument. School board members, superintendents, and principals were surveyed regarding their perspectives about the superintendent's performance and the six performance domains. After data were collected, statistical tests were run to determine if an effect on the performance domains was present. The researcher found there was a statistically significant effect on the instructional leadership performance domain and the communication and community relationship performance domain when districts shared a superintendent. The review of literature and the open-ended questions in the survey also revealed that defining the role of the superintendent as well as other administrators is essential when moving to a shared situation.
Recommended Citation
Cronin, Pamela J., "Perceptions of shared superintendency in North Dakota: School board members, superintendents, and principals" (2008). Theses and Dissertations. 7400.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/7400