Secondary Education Principals/Superintendents
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the key characteristics and practices needed by school district superintendents to meet the demands of leadership in their complex educational environment.
METHODOLOGY The population for this study were superintendents of the year and finalists for the years 1988 to 2013 as identified by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). Of the 86 recruited participants, 27 winners and 20 finalists (55%) completed the LPI. The typical respondent was male (72%), Caucasian (85%), over 60 years of age (77%), with a student population over 5,000 (96%), from the suburbs (51%), with 15+ years of service (57%), and held a doctoral degree (92%).
KEY FINDINGS The most frequently used leadership practices were Enable, Model, and Encourage followed by Inspire and Challenge.