Professional Development for Superintendents in Three Different National Contexts: United States

• In Event: Professional Development for Superintendents in Three Different National Contexts: Knowledge, Experiences, and Outcomes

Abstract

United States (Texas)
In the United States, the knowledge base for the superintendency comes principally from two documents: AASA’s, Professional Standards for the Superintendency (Hoyle, Björk, Collier, & Glass, 2005) and the Council of Chief State School Officers, Professional Standards for Educational Leader (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015).
In Texas, the Texas Education Code 11.201 (TEA, 2007) defines the roles and duties of the superintendent in the state of Texas. According to the State, the superintendent is the educational leader and chief executive officer of the school district (TEA). Texas has 1,166 public school districts where 907 (78%) male superintendents and 259 (22%) female superintendents lead public schools across the state (Texas PK-16 Public Education Information Resource, 2013).
During the school years of 2013-2014, all racial and ethnic group enrollment increased in public schools in Texas (Texas Education Agency, 2014). Latino students had the largest percentage of total enrollment at 51.3% followed by White (30%), African American (12.7%), Asian (3.6%), and multicultural (1.8%) (TEA, 2014). With high enrollment of diverse students in schools, it becomes necessary to examine how Texas superintendents knowledge base influences their leadership practices and policies to reflect the needs of the districts.

Authors

• Betty M. Merchant, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Encarnacion Garza

• Juan Manuel Nino, The University of Texas - San Antonio