What Indiana School Board Members Look for when Hiring a Superintendent

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether there are any differences in what school board members look for in the areas of personal characteristics and professional skills when hiring a superintendent. A sample population of school board members who were serving at a school that had an opening for a superintendent during the 2007–2008 school year was used. A survey with 24 questions was e-mailed to school board members. Results from this group indicated that there were no major differences between large school corporations and small school corporations when it came to personal characteristics and professional skills for a superintendent. Likewise there was no large spread between means among rural school corporations and urban/suburban school board members or between school board members who had served on the board four or less years compared to those who served on the board for 5 to 16 years or over 16 years.The results indicated that the school board members had high expectations in every category they were questioned about. The premise was that superintendents should be generalist rather than specialist and that they should be well versed in all areas of superintendency.