The New Superintendency

Contemporary reform initiatives in public education have included concerns with large scale, systemic reform in which the superintendent was a pivotal player. Yet much of the research attention is focused on the principalship or on state-level policymaking. This volume attempts to correct this lack of attention on the superintendency by stimulating conversations about new ways to conceive of the role. The empirical and conceptual analyses reported in this book are outcomes of the UCEA Joint Program Center for the Study of the Superintendency. The chapters report on studies that focus on the issues of recruitment, diversity, district/community relations, power and politics, and transformation. This annual review is designed to provide a forum for empirical and conceptual investigations of organizational behaviour in schools and school districts, as well as their institutional environments. Specifically, the review attempts to inform educational management and policy by integrating perspectives from sociology, psychology, economics, political science, and management.