The Wawascene was created by Dr. Mark Stock, former Superintendent of the Wawasee Community School Corporation. Due to its local popularity, Dr. Stock has left the blog site to future Wawasee administrators.

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Monday, August 07, 2006

Do superintendents matter?

Just like there is more to being a teacher than looking at how students score on a test, there is more to being a "boss" in the school district than just looking at how students are doing on standardized tests. Yet again, when looking for data, test scores always show up on the list.

A recent study by McRel (found here) looked at 6 areas of superintendent responsibilities: 1) goal setting process 2) relationships with schools 3) board alignment 4)monitoring and evaluating 5) resource alignment 6) goal adoption

The study looked at 1400+ school districts and found the following:

The impact on students whose superintendent is considered in the "top half" of superintendent performance is that 62.5% pass standardized tests versus 37.5% that fail. Students with superintendents identified as performing in the bottom half of their cohort group are reversed with 37.5% pass and 62.5% fail.

The study also found what it refers to as a "bonus finding" that "stability in superintendent leadership matters." A positive effect of superintendent tenure "appears after two years and is evident through year ten." The average effect based on the research models is seven years of a superintendent's tenure is .75 which is three times the average general effect anticipated.

We always thought we mattered to some degree but I guess now someone has actually tried to quantify it. Nothing like a little more pressure!! :-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Regardless of where you score, I think it is pretty impressive that you (Dr. Stock) put yourself out there weighing in on educational issues. By making yourself accessible, you are thereby giving those who may feel intimidated by higher ups in the district a voice. Thanks! I only hope that more 'Supers' follow this trend...Warsaw??