One Leader, Many Leadership Models: Lessons From Marcus Foster, the First Black Urban School Superintendent

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: The Faces of the Superintendency: Research on the Superintendency SIG Roundtable Session (Table 7)

Abstract

In this scholarly commentary piece, we apply the lessons of effective school leadership theories to the largely forgotten career of a historically important figure, Marcus Foster, the first African American big city school superintendent. With the noted exception of Spencer (2012), Foster attracts little scholarly notice. This is unfortunate, given the impacts of Foster’s career beyond being a demographic “first” in many categories. We will begin by describing our data sources and offering a brief history of who Marcus Foster was as an educational leader. In lieu of findings that one might have in a traditional empirical paper, we apply these principals to a pair of contemporary issues. We close with a note about the scholarly significance of this work.

Authors

• Robert A. Maranto, University of Arkansas

• David T. Marshall, Auburn University