12 WOMEN NAVIGATING THE LABYRINTH: A DELPHI STUDY Lisa Hackel Pedevilla, EdD Journal of K-12 Educational Research 2024, VOL. 7, ISSUE 1 www.dbu.edu/doctoral/edd Introduction Women comprise nearly half of the population in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). However, women are not equally represented in leadership positions across numerous fields: politics, business, the health industry, law, and education. Women show the desire to be in leadership, as evidenced by their college enrollment and graduation rates. Since the 1980s, women have surpassed men in college enrollment. And, since the 1990s, women have surpassed men in the percentage of college degrees earned (Bryant, 2022). In the field of education, women account for 77% of teachers in America and men account for 23% (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019). However, the representation significantly differs in the role of the superintendent. Only 26% of superintendents are women, and 74% are men (American Association of School Administrators [AASA], 2020; Tienken & Domenech, 2021). The purpose of the current study was to identify and better understand the barriers women face as they pursue the role of superintendent and the supports that assist them to overcome those barriers. Summary of Study For the current study, the researcher conducted a Delphi study for the purpose of obtaining a consensus among Texas superintendents regarding the most common barriers women face on their path to the superintendency and the most effective supports that help women overcome the barriers. The participants, or expert panel, consisted of PK–12 public school superintendents who 1) serve or have served in the role, 2) hold a Texas superintendent certification, and 3) hold membership in Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, Texas Association of Rural Schools, Texas Association of School Administrators, Texas Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, or Texas Council of Women School Executives. Respondent-driven, snowball, and purposive sampling methods were used (Creswell & Baez, 2021). The researcher selected the Delphi method to have expert superintendents serving in the field provide a list of ranked barriers women face when pursuing the role of superintendent and a list of ranked supports that assist them in overcoming those barriers. The current study included the four characteristics of a Delphi: participant anonymity, controlled feedback, iterative process, and statistical aggregation of group responses (Skinner et al., 2015, p. 33; Skulmoski et al., 2007, pp. 2–3). The expert panelists participated in three iterative rounds. The distribution of surveys occurred through Google using a Google Form. A thematic analysis process was applied to study the narrative data from the expert panelists in Round 1 and the open-ended questions in Round 2. The Likert-type scale questions used in Round 2 were created based on the coding and synthesis of the Round 1 comments, responses, and scholarly literature (Green, 2014). Since two of the barriers were close, bias/ cultural norms and lack of mentors, Round 3 was sent to prioritize the two. Round 3 confirmed the close findings of Round 2. The coding, categorizing, and synthesizing of data addressed the current study’s research questions. Literature Review Summary Women dominate the field of education, yet they fill a small amount of PK–12 school districts’ superintendent
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