Gender and Frequency of Use of Instructional Leadership Traits and Ascriptions of Success Among Washington State K–12 School Superintendents

• In Event: 46.074 - Public School Superintendents: Their Health, Self-Efficacy, and Reflective Practices

Abstract

The number of female superintendents in the United States has peaked in recent years at 22%; if current annual increases remain constant, female superintendents will not adequately represent women educators until 2088. The current trend in district leadership tends toward the need for instructional leadership in the top post.
The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency at which opposite gender superintendents reported using instructional leadership traits. Washington State K-12 school superintendents were invited to participate in the study; 97 superintendents responded.
Female participants reported more frequently using instructional leadership traits as compared to males in the study sample. Differences were investigated between opposite gender superintendents’ preference for and attributions of success to instructional leadership traits.

Author

• Deborah Ellen Rumbaugh, Highline Public Schools