"You Ma'am I Say Are a Very Interesting Individual": Becoming a Resilient Activist Superintendent

• In Event: 35.079 - Conceptualizing and Researching Stress in Educational Settings

Abstract

Objective: The removal of poorly performing personnel from low performing schools has been an underlying purpose and principle of recent educational policy (Kutash, et al., 2010; Ravitch, 2010). Rising turnover of teachers and administrators, however, is evident across all schools (Aud, et al., 2011). Reduced job satisfaction and increased demands that attend mandated reforms appear to negatively and indiscriminately affect educator performance, health, and intention to stay in the profession (Bellingrath, Weigl, & Kudielka, 2009; Conley & You, 2009; Klusmann, et al., 2008; Philipp & Schupbach, 2010). Superintendents in particular face numerous challenges in navigating the turbulence within districts as local policies, procedures, and practices are revised to comply with changing state and federal regulations (Hawkins & Martin, 2011).
Murphy (2009), while advocating for turnover strategies to bring improvement in low performing schools, recognizes a critical role for new leadership in achieving desired outcomes that mitigate potential pitfalls. He calls for investigation to develop and refine policy and practice recommendations. Limited and contradictory findings from research in both education (Malen & Rice, 2004) and organizational studies (Messersmith, Lee, Guthrie, & Ji, 2014) also support the need for further inquiry. This study describes the experience of a new superintendent who accepted an offer to lead the turnaround process in a small urban district in the Pacific Northwest.
Perspective: Literature on stress, coping, school turnaround, and high reliability organizing provide the foundation of the study (e.g., Bellamy Crawford, Marshall, & Coulter, 2005; Bonanna, 2004; Gmelch & Gates, 1998; Hoy, 2003; Murphy & Meyers, 2009; Sternberg, 2005).
Methods: Data were primarily gathered, analyzed, and reported using an autoethnographic design (Ellis, 2004; Rambo 2007). The lead author is the superintendent whose perspective is shared through narrated stories about critical events and everyday interactions that occurred during the two years of this study. Interview, observation, and survey data gathered by two co-researchers are also presented to triangulate, support, critique, and enrich.
Results: Three of four students in the district are qualified for free and reduced lunch, 40% receive transitional bilingual services, and the majority of students are classified as racial or ethnic minority. Building a relationship with the board, hiring and firing cabinet and building level administrators, dealing with inherited, high profile discrimination law suit, creating a sense of urgency for closing the achievement gap, challenging inappropriate beliefs and instructional practices, while seeking to build trust with stakeholders, improving the organization’s climate, and bringing predictability in district governance name themes that are described in context and depth.
Significance: As a superintendent in a district with a tumultuous past, the interpretation presented discloses internal and external challenges that provide acumens on an increasingly complex profession. Turning around a district embroiled in conflict, lacking institutional memory, where arbitrary enactment of dated policies and procedures has been accepted practice, requires listening to your inner voice, developing a trusting team, and having courageous conversations with employees. High stakes accountability may be a tool for change, but it is clinging to the cause of serving children and families that nurtures resilience.

Authors

• Nancy E. Coogan, Tukwila Schools

• Gordon S. Gates, Washington State University

• Teena McDonald, Washington State University