0.8 Hunt, j., watkins, s., kersten, t., & Tripses, j. (october 20  (Page 3/5)

Leadership given the highest priority currently is instructional leadership. Accountability for student achievement on a level previously unimagined is primarily a result of the No Child Left Behind Act. As instructional leaders, superintendents must be knowledgeable about student learning and student achievement. They must understand the PreK-12 curriculum, and provide expertise in research-based instructional practices, data management and reliable and valid assessments.

Methodology

A self-administered survey was developed and tested with a panel of school administrators, all of whom were either practicing superintendents or former superintendents. The instrument and procedures were modified based upon feedback gathered. The questionnaire received appropriate Institutional Review Board approval.

Part I of the survey asked respondents to provide demographic data including position, type of district, years of superintendent experience, and enrollment of the school and district. In Part II, respondents were asked to respond using a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( strongly agree ), 2 ( agree ), 3 ( no basis for judgment ), 4 ( disagree ), to 5 ( strongly disagree ) to rate their perceptions of the importance of each prompt. Part III provided superintendents an opportunity to add additional critical knowledge or skills for future superintendents and any advice they might give to professors of educational administration programs to improve superintendent preparation programs.

A Web-based survey method (Qualtrics) was utilized for data collection. All Illinois superintendents received the survey. An e-mail included the survey and cover letter, which included the contact information of the researchers. Participants were advised that their response implied informed consent to participate in the study.

Qualtrics provided frequencies and percentages of closed-end responses. Data were analyzed to identify trends that might appear within the categories (Maxwell, 1996). Through an inductive analysis (McMillan&Wergin, 2006) “data are gathered first and synthesized inductively for understanding. Conclusions are grounded from the bottom up” (p. 94).

Open-ended qualitative responses were analyzed through data reduction, display, conclusion creation, and triangulation to identify trends (Berkowitz, 1997). Three of the researchers independently completed data reduction, display, and triangulation to identify themes emerging from the open ended responses. Themes were subsequently compared for similarities and differences. Though this does not guarantee reliability and validity, it does provide “dependable results” (Guba&Lincoln 1981, p. 146) that can be replicated and retested to increase reliability and validity (Merriam, 1988).

Data sources

Illinois is a state characterized by a large number of school districts and a diverse population. Approximately 2,105,779 Illinois public school students are served by 868 school districts configured as K–8 elementary, 9–12 high school, or K–12 unit districts in rural, suburban, and urban settings. These include 47.5 percent minority students (Ruiz&Koch, 2011). The study, which was conducted from March through May 2011, surveyed 867 superintendents.