Chapter 2: Perceptions of Illinois School District Superintendents Regarding the Efficacy of Their Superintendent Preparation

This quantitative study, using survey research methods, examined whether Illinois public school superintendents perceived that their superintendent preparation programs adequately prepared them for the superintendency. The study examined superintendents’ perceptions about the relevance of six educational leadership standards for central office administration, noting whether these standards were embedded in university-based leadership preparation programs, as well as the importance of these standards to their administrative practice. An online questionnaire was administered to the 868 Illinois school district superintendents who held their appointments during the 2009-2010 school year; 314 responses were received for a 36.2% response rate.

Findings revealed that more than three fourths of superintendents were satisfied with the training they received from their preparation programs. Respondents reported that their training provided a moderate degree of alignment to the leadership standards. Respondents recommended the following changes to strengthen superintendent preparation programs: (a) more focus on hands-on and practical experiences, such as internships; (b) more emphasis on fiscal, finance, and budget issues; (c) increased use of instructors who were current, successful superintendents; (d) additional content related to politics and political culture; (e) development of mentor programs; and (f) content related to building positive relationships with school boards.

Findings also revealed a need to more fully incorporate leadership standards in superintendent preparation program design. The mean emphasis ratings were lower than the mean importance ratings across all 39 leadership items within the six standards, indicating that superintendent preparation programs were not fully addressing these standards within their curricula. Although there were no differences in mean emphasis ratings of the six standards within the preparation programs based upon gender, female superintendents rated the importance of all six leadership standards higher than did male superintendents. Additionally, respondents noted that a focus on instructional leadership was largely missing in most preparation programs, reporting that only 38% of the questionnaire items addressing instructional leadership practices were emphasized or highly emphasized in their superintendent training. Yet, recognizing the importance of their roles as learning leaders of their school districts, respondents reported that 87% of the items linked to instructional leadership were important or highly important to their practice.