Volume 1 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Leadership - Page 58

56 er (Marzano et al., 2005) are important in the selection of a central office music administrator. Strongly Agree was indi - cated for each of the 21 competencies with a mean ranging from 4.4 to 4.9. The data showed that of the 21 competen - cies of school leaders by Marzano et al. (2005), Texas music administrators found the two most important skills to be communication and resources. In the 21 competencies Com- munication was defined as “establishes strong lines of com - munication with and among teachers and students,” and Resources was defined as “provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for the successful execution of their jobs.” Communication and resources each had a mean of 4.9 and were responded to as Strongly Agree by 89.6% and 88.2% respectively by Texas music adminis - trators. In response to how the 21 competencies were assessed during their hiring process, respondents indicated the most common form was interview by a committee, next by the superintendent or designee. The third most common form of assessment was not to assess the competency at all. In other words, 27.9% of the time, various competencies of an effective school leader were not assessed during the hiring process of the central office music administrator. Competency Value to Music Administrators: Fine Arts Background Lens The subgroup of music administrators with a background in music maintained communication as the most important competency at a Strongly Agree response rate of 90.2% and a mean of 4.9. Resources was the second most important competency with the music group indicating a mean of 4.9 with 88.6% Strongly Agree. The subgroup of music administrators with a back - ground other than music rated knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment as the most important compe- tency in the selection of a music education leader. At 85.7%, with a mean of 4.9 each, the non-music subgroup of music administrators preferred three different competencies as the second most important when selecting a music education leader: communication, outreach, and resources. Therefore, this study shows that music administrator re - sponse variation exists based on the primary fine arts back - ground in terms of the most important competency which should be considered when hiring a music education leader. Communication was most important to those with a music background while for those with a non-music background, the most important competency when selecting a music ad - ministrator was knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Comparison to the 21 Competencies in Other Studies Table 3 demonstrates consensus on the most important of the 21 competencies—Communication—and common ground thereafter in terms of the competencies rated in the top third by superintendents, principals, and music administrators. (See Table 3 on page 59.) Also, a review of the most important competency rated by music administrators differed between music and non-music backgrounds. This comparison places superin- tendents, principals, and music administrators with music backgrounds in agreement that communication is the most important educational competency and music administra- tors with non-music background projecting a different re - sponse. It is also notable that the competency change agent— willing to challenge and actively challenges the status quo—differs between the three administrator groups. Su - perintendents value change agent in the middle third while principals and music administrators value this competency in the bottom third. In fact, principals value change agent last while music administrators value change agent 20 of 21. Additional Competency Responses More than half of the respondents contributed at least one additional competency that they felt was important to con - sider or evaluate when hiring a central office music admin - istrator. While it was certainly unknown what the volume of response would look like, it was definitely unexpected that music administrators would contribute an additional 79 competency responses. Jeremy L. Earnhart, Ed.D.