Education Commons^™

Teacher Evaluations And Merit Pay: An Uneasy Mix, David Alan Dolph

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Teacher evaluations are undergoing significant changes in response to demands for school reform and higher accountability. States are now including value-added data in teacher evaluations, experimenting with merit pay based on evaluations, or both. Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Texas are but a few states that have altered the way teachers are evaluated or that are incorporating value-added data.

Changes in evaluation practice will likely mean significant modifications in how building-level administrators evaluate teachers. Moreover, approaches to teacher salary systems are just as likely to be altered if merit pay is introduced. School business officials (SBOs) are typically …

Preferred Professional Development, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

As younger superintendents replace retirees, professional development needs have increased to meet new forms of accountability, teacher/ principal evaluation and rigorous curriculum reform. In a survey of New York state superintendents, more than half expressed a preference for local, high-quality professional development workshops so they did not have to travel from their districts. The superintendents also preferred professional development involving systemic change and best practices.

Rehired After Retired, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Slightly more than one in 10 superintendents participating in the "2012 AASA Superintendents Salary and Benefits Study" indicated they have been rehired as a superintendent after retiring from one state or another. This contrasts with a finding in AASP

Publicizing Job Evaluations, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

More than 50 percent of superintendents in a nationwide survey indicate their performance evaluations are not made public, while slightly more than a third say their evaluation results are released publicly. The findings were contained in AASA’s 2012 salary and benefits study. State-specific public records laws govern the release of such information. These laws are evolving as state legislatures and courts decide if superintendents are public officials. AASA’s decennial study of the superintendency in 2010 pointed to increased frequency of formal evaluations along with expanded use of performance measures leading to merit awards. Link this with the call for greater …

Hesitancy About The Job, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Potential candidates hesitate to apply for their first superintendency for several, reasons. Foremost among them are the job's broad scope and their own school-age children.

Pay By Gender And District Size, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Superintendents nationwide experienced small growth in median salaries from 2011-12 to 2012-13, according to a new study by AASA. As expected, salaries for the top district leaders generally increased with district enrollment. In four of the five categories across the size of school districts, the median salaries paid to female superintendents slightly exceeded those paid to their male colleagues. In drawing conclusions from these data, one must consider the relatively small number of respondents in the smallest and largest groupings of student enrollment in the school districts.

Examining Variability In Superintendent Community Involvement, Theodore J. Kowalski, Ila Phillip Young, George J. Petersen

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the extent to which four independent variables (age, gender, education level, and district type) accounted for variability in superintendent community involvement. Two covariates associated with levels of community involvement (disposition toward community involvement and district enrollment) were infused to assess the impact of the independent variables. Analysis revealed that the model accounted for 8% of the variance as indicated both by R2 and by adjusted R2. Given the number of respondents (1,867), this is considered a medium effect having practical implications in the applied setting. Among the four independent variables, only a single main effect (district type) …

District Diversity And Superintendents Of Color, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

While the number of superintendents of color increased from 5 percent to 6 percent during the past decade, their representation remains well below their numbers in the general population. Data from the most recent AASA superintendency study show that the greater the levels of minority students and minority residents, the greater the likelihood the district has a superintendent of color. However, an inverse association existed between the percentage of the district's minority employees and a superintendent of color.

Superintendent Ratings Of Academic Preparation, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Groups seeking to rescind or weaken state licensing requirements to be a superintendent have disparaged academic studies in administration as an inconsequential requirement. Their claim has rarely been supported by empirical evidence. Findings from the last three AASA-sponsored decennial studies (1992, 2000, and 2011) of the superintendency suggest policymakers and members of the profession should be cautious about radically altering licensing requirements. A high percentage (ranging from 74 percent in 1992 to 79 percent in 2011) rated their universitybased academic preparation as being excellent or good.

Female Superintendents By Locale, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The most recent AASA decennial study of the superintendency reveals the growing presence of female superintendents (24.1 percent nationwide) has not been affected by either district enrollment or the level of a school district's racial or ethnic diversity. Across four district enrollment categories, the range of female representation was 20.4 percent (in the largest districts) to 29.8 percent (in the smallest districts). By comparison, females accounted for 17.7 percent of very small-district superintendents and just 5.4 percent of the largest-district superintendents a decade earlier. Across five district diversity categories, the range of representation was 21.4 percent (in low-diversity districts) to …

Is The School Board Evaluated Formally?, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Little progress has been made with respect to evaluating the performance of local boards of education, according to the most recent decennial, nationwide study of superintendents. Seven in 10 boards do not receive any form of formal evaluation, and among the 30 percent that do, almost all engage only in self-evaluation.

Job Evaluation, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Knowing the factors used in the annual performance evaluation of superintendents is foundational to building a more effective process. The accompanying graph, based on AAS~s decennial survey of the field, shows how superintendents rank seven response options about the conduct of their own assessments by school boards. Critics claim current evaluation practices are plagued by ambiguous purposes, unrealistic expectations, uneven and subjective processes, and invalid outcomes. The overall quality of superintendent evaluations suffers from the variation in the bases of assessments and the number and competence of the evaluators. The limited application of national standards (such as those published by …

Age Entering The Field, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Over time, the typical career span of superintendents (in that position only) has been about 15 to 20 years. In large measure, this relatively short period is explained by the fact most superintendents enter the position in mid-career. Data collected and analyzed by AASA in 2010 revealed nearly two-thirds of superintendents (62 percent) first entered the position when they were 41 to 55 years old. Outside this age range, novices were twice as likely to be younger than 41 than older than 55. Only 8 percent of superintendents first entered the position after age 55.

The School Superintendent: Theory, Practice, And Cases, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The School Superintendent: Theory, Practice, and Cases is the essential guide to succeeding as a superintendent or as an administrator in another district-level position. Comprehensive in both theory and practice, this textbook and reference guide examines the role and responsibilities of school district administration in professional, social, philosophical, and political frames, while balancing perspectives of rewards and challenges commonly expressed by school superintendents. Important topics covered include the emerging role of superintendent as communicator, the changing conditions in districts and schools, inadequate funding for public schools, and the treatment of policy administration, leadership roles, and community involvement.