This leadership portrait using qualitative methods exposes one female superintendent's perception of practices and characteristics that led to her 23-year tenure in one district, exceeding the national average of 3.5 years. Leadership qualities and practices are explored and compared related to student success and superintendent responsibilities.…

Research indicates Latino males are under-represented in the educational pipeline and administrative ranks of public education. Further studies attribute the Latino culture as contributing to the obstacles encountered in Latino advancement. This qualitative study was a life history of a first generation U.S. born Latino raised in a Texas-Mexico…

This article from the archives of "Schools: Studies in Education," presents a biography of Ella Flagg Young, a dynamic and inspirational leader in American education, with a career that spanned more than 50 years. Young was one of the most outstanding educators during the period that saw the rise of universal education in the United…

This dissertation is a historical biography on the life, suffrage and educational contributions of Mary Carroll Craig Bradford, a wife, mother, suffragist, teacher and educational administrator in the state of Colorado. The purpose of this dissertation was to find out exactly what Bradford's contributions were to her state. The initial observation…

Extending democracy into schools so that every child has the opportunity to achieve is the topic of many books and conversations. The three Latina superintendents who coauthored this book do more than discuss the issue of equity in education--they live it. They grew up affected by it, taught students who needed it, and changed the minds of those…

Urban school leaders, particularly superintendents are on the frontlines for raising student achievement at all levels. The work of urban superintendents is intensive given the challenges they encounter. Research has indicated that school leaders who possess and enact skills and knowledge that support change leadership. The question, then, is…

Leadership theories are continuously evolving. Leadership is an indefinable concept that may be interpreted as an art. This study explores the complexity of leadership and the superintendency. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspective of a superintendent and his journey through several educational leadership roles and…

This article presents a profile of Joe L. Wood, the current superintendent of South Windsor Connecticut and the previous superintendent of Berkshire Hills Regional Schools, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In South Windsor, Wood has presided effectively over what had been a rural school district of 3,000 students when he started in 1986 to one that's…

Basan N. Nembirkow grew up as a pre-adolescent adoring the Brooklyn Dodgers, and his friends in central New Jersey applied the nickname of Buzz, to which he still answers. But in other respects, it would be hard to suggest Basan Nembirkow is simply a product of a middle-class American upbringing. Nembirkow, who is about to finish his second year…

From the day he landed in the southeastern Washington community of Kennewick as district superintendent, Paul Rosier let it be known through his actions, as well as his words, that he intended to be the school district's instructional leader. Rosier is a big-picture guy who likes to spend time peering through small windows. In a masterful way of…

A Texas superintendent reminisces about a high school English teacher with impossibly high standards for composition and vocabulary usage. Although she seemed scarcely human at the time, Mrs. Jones was remembered for expecting the best even from her most stubborn students. (MLH)

Superintendent Philip Geiger recently risked unpopularity in one suburban New Jersey district by privatizing the bus service and using savings for a truckload of classroom computers. Armed with an MBA and a passion for zero-based budgeting, Geiger has also braved union displeasure by advocating faculty workload increases in students' interest. An…

This booklet sketches the life, educational theories, and accomplishments of Albert F. Ames (1888-1931). Ames was trained as a mathematician, and served six years as a mathematics teacher in Canada before becoming superintendent of schools in Riverside, Illinois. He co-authored five mathematics textbooks with J. A. McLellan. These texts,…

William "Rob" Roberts wasn't thinking about working as a professional educator, much less running a major school system, when he decided he'd had enough of formal schooling himself at age 19. Rather, he dreamed of big adventures, flying combat aircraft for the military. When he discovered the U.S. Army didn't insist on two years of…

Describes the problems in New York City's schools during the period from 1898 to 1914 and Superintendent Julia Richman's innovative approaches to solutions. (MB)