Journal of K-12 Educational Research 59 Findings/Interpretations The researcher provided an in-depth review of defining leadership, the history of the Texas superintendent, the superintendent preparation, the role of the superintendent, characteristics of superintendents with longevity, and the superintendent cabinet. Many of the participant responses from interviews support and almost directly align with the literature reviewed in the current study. Watkins (2013) suggested that leaders may be charged to be start-up leaders, status-quo leaders, or change agents. This view of leadership was clear in the participant interviews. The participants all surmise that superintendents must be all things to all people at all times. Superintendents must work very hard to meet the needs of the Board who hired them, the community they serve, the staff with which they work, the principals they support, and the students for whom they are responsible. Most of the participants in the current study indicated that they had little to no formal training on becoming a superintendent. The limited formal training that was provided to superintendents was not adequate in that it was theory based, and not closely aligned with the daily aspects and demands of the superintendency. Candidates shared instances where there was a lack of effective mentoring, or no mentoring at all. One participant was quoted as saying, “This is a very lonely position with little resources or training. We pick our own mentors and they may or may not be very good, but we get what we can get.” Another participant stated regarding training, “Superintendents are hired by elected school board officials, who may or may not have any formal training themselves . . . there is no way the Board can be responsible for training the superintendent.” Interview participants discussed the importance of leadership and developing as a leader and how critical that development is. One superintendent participant recommended to the Board that they actually invest in his leadership development by sending him to the National Superintendent Certification Program. Johnson (1996), in her book Leading to Change, shared that academic content and pedagogical approaches in administrative training programs—superintendent training programs, specifically—are regularly reported to be narrow and lack creativity. Preparation programs that incorporate case studies, scenario-based instruction, and hands-on experiences would better serve superintendents. Milton (2007) said of his mentor who filled in the gaps that were void in his preparation, “He methodically introduced me to the concepts and situations that would be relevant to a superintendent” (p. 60). This kind of preparation serves well when presented along with the theory of the superintendent preparation program. The political focus was prevalent both in the literature review as well as in the superintendent interviews. The research discussed suggested that the superintendent position is highly visible, and politically charged (Sovine, 2009). The participant interviews support this idea as well, suggesting that political acumen is a must for superintendent longevity. The ability to lead in the political arena ranks very close, and even higher according to some superintendent participants, than the ability to lead the instruction. One participant shared that instructional leadership is not his strong suit, so he made sure to hire a strong instructional leader for the district, so he could work in his area of strength, which is the political arena. Demographics No. Gender Female Male Ethnicity African American Hispanic White Years in Education 21-25 26+ Years as a Superintendent 5-10 11-15 16-20 District Size Large Urban Suburban Small Rural Table 1. Demographic Data 0 7 2 1 4 1 6 4 1 2 2 3 2
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