Knowing when to hold ’em and fold ’em: Tacit knowledge of place‐bound and career‐bound superintendents

This article furthers understanding of the tacit knowledge of school administrators and provides a fresh look at the issue of boundedness in the superintendency. The tacit knowledge of a group of Ohio superintendents was examined in light of superintendent classification as place‐bound (rising through the ranks in one school district) or career‐bound (assuming the superintendency in multiple districts across the span of a career). Tacit knowledge items were culled from interviews conducted with the superintendents. The 469 items were sorted by an expert panel and then cluster analyzed to determine categories of tacit knowledge for place‐bound and career‐bound superintendents. A total of 21 categories describe the tacit knowledge across the superintendent group. Differences in categories and amounts of tacit knowledge were found between the place‐bound superintendents and the career‐bound superintendents.