Volume 1 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Leadership - Page 60

58 tion of the music administrators’ work that surrounds bud - get, accounting, and purchasing. The themes called grounded and involvement are pre- sented as synthesis of the 79 emerging competencies cap - tured under a heading identified as collaboration/consen - sus. Soft skills surrounding collaboration require positive relationships. Almost by definition, the central office music administrator is physically removed from that which/whom they supervise. Efforts should be exhausted to be visible and allow students, teachers, and the community to feel supported and to be heard. Competencies Important to Music Administrators The current study shows that the 21 competencies of an ef - fective school leader (Marzano et al., 2005) are important to Texas music administrators in the selection of a music edu- cation leader. This study further indicates that according to practicing music administrators, communication and resources are the top two educational competencies that should be considered when hiring a music administrator. It was also found that many times the 21 competencies were not assessed in the music administrator hiring process. Limitations and Recommendations for Hiring The question arises as to whether the beliefs of Texas music administrators expressed in this survey are a result of a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is to say, it is likely that those district administrators who created job descriptions, screened applicants, interviewed candidates, and made se - lections for music administrator positions may have based the process on general administrator competencies, rather Jeremy L. Earnhart, Ed.D.