dr. william allan kritsonis, dissertation committee for james d. laub, phd dissertation defense

8/8/2019 Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Dissertation Committee for James D. Laub, PhD Dissertation Defense

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An Analysis of the Rural

Public School

Superintendency A Dissertation Defense

byJames D. Laub

Prairie View A & M UniversityBen C. DeSpain, Ed.D., Chair

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD, Committee Member



Dissertation Defense Format

Purpose of the Study

Limitations of the Study

Research Questions Null Hypotheses

Method of Procedure

Major Findings

Review of the Literature

Conclusions

Recommendations



Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was two-fold:

1. To analyze the characteristics of rural public

school districts and rural public schoolsuperintendents.

2. To examine the governance challenges and

the leadership behaviors that are exhibited bysuperintendents in rural public school districtsin dealing with those governance challenges.



Limitations of the Study

A potential for differences in the responses may have existed,given the type of survey instruments and methodology (mail-outsurvey and personal interview) utilized in data collection andgathering.

The study may have been restricted by the personalperceptions, beliefs, assumptions, feelings, and experiences of rural public school superintendents.

Respondents in the study may be unaware of the definitions of transformational and transactional leadership

Economic, regional, and cultural biases may have existed in thedata, given the scope of the study is geographically based in thesouthwestern part of the United States.



Quantitative Research

Question 1 & Hypothesis

What are the differences in identified governancechallenges (school board relations, Federal/Statemandates, teacher retention, finance, facilities,transportation, curriculum) among superintendents

in rural public school districts in 5 selected states?

H01 ± There are no statistically significantdifferences in identified governance challenges(school board relations, Federal/State mandates,teacher retention, finance, facilities, transportation,curriculum) among superintendents in rural publicschool districts in 5 selected states.




Question 2 & Hypothesis

What are the differences in leadership behaviors asidentified by the Multifactor LeadershipQuestionnaire (Form 5X) among superintendents in

rural public school districts in 5 selected states?

H02 ± There are no statistically significantdifferences in the leadership behaviors identified bythe Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X)among superintendents in rural public schooldistricts in 5 selected states.




Question 3

What are the differences in leadershipbehaviors as identified by the Multifactor

Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X) amongsuperintendents in rural public schooldistricts in 5 selected states whendemographic characteristics (age, gender,educational level, years of experience) areconsidered?



Null Hypotheses

H03 ± There are no statistically significant differencesin the leadership behaviors identified by theMultifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X)

among superintendents in rural public school districtsin 5 selected states with respect to age.

H04 ± There are no statistically significant differencesin the leadership behaviors identified by theMultifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X)among superintendents in rural public school districtsin 5 selected states with respect to gender.



Qualitative Research Questions

1. What are the characteristics of rural publicschool districts?

2. What are the governance challengesfacing rural public school superintendents?

3. What are the factors that contribute tosuperintendent turnover in rural public schooldistricts?



Qualitative Research Questions

4. What leadership behaviors are practicedto address the current and future challenges

facing rural public school superintendents?

5. What knowledge, skills, and strategies are

utilized by rural public schoolsuperintendents to address governancechallenges?



Method of Procedure

Population - Quantitative

Superintendents from rural public school

districts in five southwestern states. Located in a place outside of a metropolitan

statistical area that has a population of fewer than2,500 persons (U.S. Dept. of Education)

1,052 identified superintendents - Texas,Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Arizona

Stratified random sample - 280 male rural public

school superintendents and 118 female ruralpublic school superintendents.

175 responded out of 398 (112 male, 63 female),producing an overall 44% return rate.



Method of Procedure

Population - Qualitative

Qualitative information from the samplepopulation respondents was gathered bypersonal interview ± 26 in person, 4 via

telephone Selected by convenience sampling from the

target population.

T

hirty rural public school superintendentswere selected and invited to participate

ESC Regions 3, 4, 6, 11, and 13



Method of Procedure

Instrumentation

MLQ (Form 5X) Leadership Inventory Instrument

Comprised of 36 items measuring nine subscales

Uses a 5-point Likert-type scale to measure and

identify leadership behaviors Current review of the MLQ is pending for the

Seventeenth Mental Measurement Yearbook

Review in the Fourteenth Mental MeasurementYearbook yielded that the available research

provides evidence that the MLQ consistently measuresthe constructs of transformational and transformationalleadership



Method of Procedure

Analysis of Variance 5 groups

Descriptive, Explanatory Study

Survey and Nominal Data

One ± Way, H01 and H02

Factorial, H03 ± H06

Independent Variable ± Rural Superintendents

Dependent Variable ± Leadership Behaviors

Factors ± Demographic Data Data were measured a 95% level of significance, alpha

of p< .05,

SPSS 12.0



Major Findings

Quantitative Research Question 1

What are the differences in identified governance challenges(school board relations, Federal/State mandates, teacher retention, finance, facilities, transportation, curriculum) amongsuperintendents in rural public school districts in 5 selected

states?

H01 ± There are no statistically significant differences inidentified governance challenges (school board relations,Federal/State mandates, teacher retention, finance, facilities,transportation, curriculum) among superintendents in ruralpublic school districts in 5 selected states.

Based on ANOVA analysis, H01 is not rejected.




Quantitative ResearchQuestion 1

Political factions among school board members often place a ruralpublic school superintendent in a difficult position. This relationship of conflict and apprehension hinders a superintendent¶s ability toeffectively lead and implement policy (Kowalski, 2005).

School boards must also take care not to micromanage or invade therealm of the superintendent (Hess, 2002).

School board members who practice in a dominating or oppressivemanner can overtly disrupt an entire school district. As a result, schoolboard members and superintendents often find themselves engaged inpower struggles (Mountford, 2004).

Conflicts between school boards and superintendents occur over values and interests, heightened levels of political activism, changingpower structures, and challenges to traditional purposes and goals of public education (Keedy & Bjork, 2001).





Rural public school districts are facing many of the same issuesconfronting suburban and urban public school districts, the newrequirements of NCLB create challenges unique to rural publicschools (Reeves, 2003)

Small, rural schools are in greater danger of being mislabeledas ³in need of improvement´ than larger schools due to thevolatile nature of school-level reporting from year to year.Because of this, all stakeholders in a rural public school districthave begun to feel the pressure and stress that NCLB and highstakes testing brings (Woodrum, 2004).

The No Child Left Behind Act is particularly troublesome for ruraland small schools. Compared to either suburban or urban publicschool districts nationwide, rural public school districts tend tohave a a higher incidence of out-of-field teaching assignments,(Jimerson, 2004; Mathis, 2003).





A shortage of specialty subject teachers is a nationwideproblem, especially in rural public school districts. Teacher shortages in rural public school districts affect many subjectsand specialty areas including mathematics, science, specialeducation, and foreign languages (Beeson & Strange, 2003;Redfield, Morris & Hammer, 2003).

Teachers, especially those with less than 5 years teachingexperience, must have continuing education and support.Universities, colleges, and other professional developmentavenues are not readily accessible to teachers in rural publicschool districts (Houston, 2001; Redfield, Morris & Hammer,

2003).

Major problems confronting rural public schools are the inabilityto pay appropriate teacher salaries, limited access to socialactivities, and lack of personal privacy (Harmon, 2001; Reeves,2003).





Budgetary constraints and financial exigencies may be the biggestproblems rural public school superintendents face (Glass, Bjork &Brunner, 2000; Mathis, 2003).

Challenges plaguing many rural districts include small size, high levelsof per-pupil spending, and high concentrations of students from poor

families (Imazeki & Reschovsky, 2003).

Rural public school districts, with their modest fiscal bases, usuallycannot generate sufficient local resources to supplement adequatelythe state school finance programs the way that more affluent localitiescan (Harmon, 2001; Lawrence, 2002).

Rural areas often have less political power than suburban and urbanareas There are significantly fewer outside sources of funding in ruralpublic schools in all categories, such as funding with private grants,Title I monies, and school improvement funds (Jimerson, 2004).





Rural school children and rural public school districts are harmed themost from increased bus time. Due to the geographic location of manyrural public school students to their schools, one-way bus rides of up toone hour or longer are commonplace (Kileen & Sipple, 2000; Howley &Howley, 2001).

Rural school districts face higher transportation costs that may forcethem to choose whether to run buses or expand curriculum (Spence,2000).

Transporting students in rural public school districts may be twice asexpensive as transporting students in suburban and urban publicschool districts (Killeen and Sipple, 2000; Lawrence, 2002; Reeves,

2003).

Throughout the rural parts of the United States, millions of young Americans are transported to schools, often over treacherous roads indifficult terrain, through challenging weather over long distances(Howley & Smith, 2000).



Major Findings


What are the differences in leadership behaviors as identified bythe Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X) amongsuperintendents in rural public school districts in 5 selectedstates?

H02 ± There are no statistically significant differences in theleadership behaviors identified by the Multifactor LeadershipQuestionnaire (Form 5X) among superintendents in rural publicschool districts in 5 selected states.

Based on ANOVA analysis, p = .68, H02 is not rejected.



Major Findings


Scored leadership behaviors of rural public

school superintendents (n=175).

43.4% (n=76) display transactional leadership

56.6% (n=99) display transformationalleadership.




Quantitative Research Question 2 Transformational leaders motivate subordinates to perform

beyond desired expectations by inspiring, stimulating, anddeveloping a higher collective purpose, mission, and vision(Bass, 1985).

Transformational leaders take the moral high road ± theypromote individual consideration, intellectual stimulation,personal motivation and inspiration, and high ethical standards.(Avolio & Yammarino (2002)

Transformational leaders emphasize emotions, values andendeavor to make events meaningful for subordinates (Yukl,1999).

Transformational leaders seek new ways of collaboration, seekopportunities in the face of risk, and prefer effective answers toefficient answers (Lowe & Galen-Kroeck, 1996).





Transactional leadership is an exchange-based form of leadership in which ³leaders approach followers with an eye toexchanging one thing for another´ (p. 4). A ³quid pro quo´correlation usually exists in this relationship. (Burns, 1978)

Transactional leaders are motivated by what is easily identifiableand measurable. Issues, problems, and concerns that upset the³status quo´ of the organization are reactionary factors for transactional leaders (Bass, 1998).

Transactional leaders define expectations and promoteperformance to achieve those expectations ± they areassociated with constructive and corrective transactions (Bassand Avolio, 2004).



Major Findings


What are the differences in leadership behaviors as identified by theMultifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X) amongsuperintendents in rural public school districts in 5 selected states whendemographic characteristics (age, gender, educational level, years of experience) are considered?

H03 ± There are no statistically significant differences in the leadershipbehaviors identified by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form5X) among superintendents in rural public school districts in 5 selectedstates with respect to age.

H04 ± with respect to gender, H05 ± with respect to education H06 ±

with respect to years of experience

H03 is not rejected, p=.23 H04 is not rejected, p=.23H05 is not rejected, p=.13 H06 is not rejected, p=.80



Major Findings


H04 ± Gender (n=175)

Male - 64% (n=112)

Female - 36% (n=63)

Transactional leaders (n=76)

Male ± 63.1% (n=48)

Female ± 36.9% (n=28)

Transformational leaders (n=99)

Male ± 64.6% (n=64)

Female ± 35.4% (n=35)



Major Findings


H05 - Educational Level (n=175)

Bachelors degree - 1.1% (n=2) Masters degree - 85.7% (n=150)

Doctoral degree - 13.1% (n=23)

Transactional leaders (n=76) Bachelors degree ± 2.6% (n=2) Masters degree ± 78.9% (n=60) Doctoral degree - 18.5% (n=14)

Transformational leaders (n=99) Bachelors degree - 0% (n=0) Masters degree ± 90.9% (n=90) Doctoral degree - 9.1% (n=9)



Major Findings

Quantitative Research Question 3 H06 - Years of Experience (n=175)

1 ± 3 Years ± 31.4% (n=55) 4 ± 6 Years - 28.6% (n=50) 7 ± 9 Years - 15.4% (n=27) 10+ Years ± 24.6% (n=43)

Transactional leaders (n=76) 1 ± 3 Years - 31% (n=29) 4 ± 6 Years - 28.6% (n=22) 7 ± 9 Years - 15.4% (n=7) 10+ Years ± 24.6% (n=18)

Transformational leaders (n=99) 1 ± 3 Years ± 26.2% (n=26) 4 ± 6 Years - 28..2% (n=28) 7 ± 9 Years - 20.2% (n=20) 10+ Years ± 25.4% (n=25)



Major Findings

Qualitative Research Question 1

What are the characteristics of rural public school districts?

Rural communities are trying to establish an identity. The localschool often serves as the focal point for a majority of thecommunity.

Conservative, family oriented values lay the foundation for thesocial structure in rural communities. Even in the smallest of ruralcommunities church buildings exist. Nothing gets scheduled on aWednesday night ± Baptists are in mid-week services andCatholics are in CCD classes.

You must relate to the community and you must fit into their world. Ican drive a double cab, dually pickup worth $50,000 and nobodycares, but let me drive a used Lexus costing $30,000 and the wholecommunity is in uproar.



Major Findings


It is not uncommon to have parents picking up their children inpickup trucks with hay or livestock trailers in tow. I have evenhad semi truck. I have called parents on their cell phones todiscuss students. Sometimes they are at home watching tv,

sometimes they are on the way to ³work´ cows sometimes theyare on a tractor shredding a pasture. Nothing surprises youwhen you work in a rural district.

In general, rural public school districts are like private or parochial schools in that the teachers, staff members, parentsand community members put forth extra effort and are extremelydedicated to their school, they go above and beyond to makesure that their children have the best education possible bydoing whatever it takes.



Major Findings


Student athletes are more likely to participate in all the sportsoffered in rural public schools. Rural communities rally aroundand show tremendous support for extracurricular activities, often

times more so than academic activities.

For a cross country track meet we submitted a bill for two hogcallers and a bag of feed cubes. The cross country route wentbehind the high school and into a pasture. The prior week, thefarmer had shot two wild hogs in the pasture. The hog callerswere used by the coaches at the north side of the woods to keepthe hogs out of the pasture. The bag of feed cubes was used tokeep the cows penned up and out of the way of the runners.




Qualitative Research Question 1 Rural public school districts have unique traits and characteristics that

distinguish them from suburban and urban public school districts. Among them are geographic isolation, small populations, and decliningenrollment (Beeson & Strange, 2003; Reeves, 2003).

Rural communities that are not in relatively close proximity to larger

communities tend to have higher poverty rates and provide fewer occupational, social, and educational opportunities for their students.However, the aesthetic values and quality of life afforded by ruralcommunities can outweigh any negative connotations (Kannapel &Young, 1999).

Rural schools have unique characteristics that should be valued.

(McLaughlin, Hernandez and Caron, 2005). Many see the role of ruralschools as serving the local community, as the school should bothreflect and shape the community (Woodrum, 2004).

A strong sense of kinship normally permeates throughout the ruralschool community, relationships and connections to other people arehighly valued (Howley & Howley, 2006; Kannapel & DeYoung, 1999).

.



Major Findings


What are the governance challenges facing ruralpublic school superintendents?

In my district the majority of the teachers were

born and reared in the community, or have aspouse or family members that reside in thecommunity that is why they teach in thatcommunity.

I have to find reasons, besides monetaryconsiderations to attract teachers, many times theallure of a ³lifelong´ job is the best selling pointthat I have. Other than that, what can I offer to ayoung person fresh out of college, as no socialactivities or opportunities are readily available?



Major Findings


My district has lost almost 100 students over the past threeyears. As a result, we lost nearly $ 500,000 in funding andhave had to lay-off teachers and cut the budget. I used tohave two principals, now I only have one and I have to fulfillthose duties. I only have one phys. ed. teacher for K-12 andmany of my teachers have multi-grade and multi-contentareas to teach.

We are a Chapter 41 school district and send a lot of moneyback to the state due to Robin Hood. Our students haveparents that are blue collar workers and my district has over

a 80% free and state ± it is the weekenders and summer crowds that own this property and make us a Chapter 41district. Most of them do not have school age children, or their children attend school in other districts. Our localstudents do not reap any of the benefits.



Major Findings


Many rural public school districts were formed due to the consolidationof several smaller, community based schools. As a result, some ruralschools districts have campuses located in different parts of thecommunity. Elementary students may be bused several miles to onecampus, junior high students may be bused several miles to another

campus, and high school students may be bused several miles to yetanother campus.

I have to drive 84 miles, one-way, to make a complete visit to all mycampuses.´ Four of the rural public school districts the served studentsfrom kindergarten through 8th grade. These rural public school districtshad to bus their secondary students to another public school district

several miles away.

Teachers and coaches are hired to drive bus routes, as no one else inthe community is available to do so. Superintendents do not need acommercial license, but also drive school busses.



Major Findings


All these mandates are a load of ³horse manure´,we should be about educating children, instead of worrying about red tape, filling out papers and forms

and trying to meet impossible and realisticexpectations. I spend way too much time on this, as Ihave no one else in the district to delegate this to.

Seeing how most representatives in legislative bodiesare elected from urban and suburban areas, is it anywonder why rural areas get left behind in the process,what do they expect us to do, work miracles?




Qualitative Research Question 2 Rural public schools in America face an array of problems every bit as daunting

and intractable as those confronting suburban and urban public schools.Conversely, reform efforts undertaken in suburban and urban public schoolsmay not necessarily be germane to rural public school districts (Bauch, 2001;Redfield, Morris and Hammer, 2003)

Challenges encountered by rural public school superintendents include: school

board relations; federal/state mandates; recruiting and retaining quality teachers;school finance; inadequate school facilities; transportation; and curriculum.(Beeson and Strange, 2003; Johnson & Strange, 2005))

Not only are rural public schools faced with trying to piece together andcapitalize on the remnants of their remaining uniqueness, but they must do sounder a barrage of ongoing reforms seeking to integrate rural public schools intothe national system (Howley, 2004; Woodrum, 2004).

Funding sources and academic reward structures do not put much value onrural education research; it is not considered a prestigious research endeavor Rural public school districts typically have sparse access to rigorous, unbiasedand affordable research (Kannapel & DeYoung, 1999; Stark, 2005).



Major Findings


You must be extremely conscientious in making decisions as peoplemay be watching for inconsistencies in your words and actions they canbe bothersome.

Regardless if issues are school related or not, rural superintendents arethe ³county´ official, they are everything to everybody, as such youmust act accordingly.

Often times more school business gets conducted over coffee at thelocal feed store and in informal town meetings than in the board room.

Following the chain of command is often difficult for some ruralcommunity members and stakeholders, as when they have a ³problem´they want to go directly to the superintendent or the board becausethey demand immediate results.´




Qualitative Research Question 3 Micromanagement interferes with the superintendent¶s ability to operate the

district and will, more than likely, shorten the superintendent¶s tenure (Caruso,2005). School board members and superintendents often find themselvesengaged in power struggles (Mountford, 2004). Political factions among schoolboard members often place a rural public school superintendent in a difficultposition (Kowalski, 2005).

Many propose that the most important function of the rural school board is theselection of the superintendent (Czubaj, 2002; Johnson & Howley, 2001). Thepower to hire and fire the rural public school superintendent gives the ruralschool board indirect control as to what transpires in the district (Land, 2002).

Rural public school superintendents face a variety of challenges, shoulder enormous responsibilities, and wear many different hats, from instructionalleader, resource manager, to politician and consensus builder. Rural public

school superintendents must be capable and willing to address the educationalneeds of his/her school districts and any problems that may arise from theseneeds (Kowalski, 2005)

The superintendency, now perhaps more than ever, is a political position whereconflict has increased exponentially. (Keedy & Bjork, 2001)





Superintendents as true professionals who, above all else, areeducational scholars capable and willing to address theeducational needs of his/her school districts and any problemsthat may arise from these needs (Kowalski, 2003).

First and foremost, student success and achievement shouldcapture the rural school superintendent¶s notice; they must beinstitutional visionaries (King, 2002; Owen & Ovando, 2000).

Leadership practice takes form in the interaction between

leaders and followers; leaders act in situations that are definedby subordinates¶ actions (Spillane, 2005).

Educational administrators must be open and consider all claimsand theories, they need not necessarily replace existing theoriesbut challenge existing boundaries (English, 2003).



Major Findings


School districts are inanimate objects that do nothave feelings or show emotions. On the other hand,people whom you offend will never forget, remember all it takes is one ³oh-darn´ to wipe out a hundred³atta-boys´.

Be willing to communicate unpopular information by

being truthful, people are going to throw rocks, justbe careful not to hand them the rocks.



Major Findings


When I became a superintendent my predecessor left me threeenvelopes. I was given instructions to open them whenconfronted with serious problems by board members. I was to

open the first letter upon encountering the first serious problem,to open the second letter upon encountering the second seriousproblem and to open the last letter upon encountering the thirdserious problem. Upon encountering my first problem I openedthe letter - it said to blame the previous superintendent. Uponencountering the second serious problem I opened the letter - it

said to be patient and to remember that the board member isalways right. Upon encountering the third serious problem Iopened the letter ± it said to write a resignation and to leavethree envelopes for my replacement.




Qualitative Research Question 5 With practice, time, skill proficiency, and developing wisdom

superintendents in any school setting can be instrumentalchange agents for the betterment of schools (Israel & Kasper 2004)

A overabundance of intoxicating visions and noble intentionsexist, many leaders have rich and deeply textured agendas, butwithout communications neither will come to fruition. Trust is thelubricant that makes it possible for organizations to work (Bennis& Nanus, 1985).

Developing trust by empowering subordinates to demonstrate

their abilities, will challenge subordinates to develop newabilities and seek unanticipated challenges (Bass & Avolio,1994).

Decision-making should fit the context, educationaladministrators should not take a standard cookie cutter

approach to decision-making (English, 2003).



Conclusions

Conclusion 1: Governance challenges and problemshave a direct impact on a rural public schoolsuperintendents¶ job performance and job stability.

Conclusion 2 : The scope and function of a ruralpublic school superintendents¶ responsibilities andduties appear to be unique, and may not reflect the

scope and function of suburban and urban publicschool superintendents responsibilities and duties.



Conclusions

Conclusion 3: Although rural public schoolsuperintendents in the study were identified as either transformational or transactional leaders, in would

appear that rural public school superintendentsdisplay a variety of leadership behaviors.

Conclusion 4: Although rural public schoolsuperintendents are identified as being either transformational or transactional leaders, overallthese superintendents display positive leadershipattributes far more frequently than negative attributes.



Conclusions

Conclusion 5: Demographics do not have a

significant impact in regards to leadershiptendencies and attributes displayed by ruralpublic school superintendents.



Recommendations

Duplication of the study including a larger geographical area and larger population of

rural public school superintendents.

Comparing and contrasting specificgovernance challenges and problemsgermane to urban, suburban, and ruralpublic school districts and superintendents.

dr. william allan kritsonis, dissertation committee for james d. laub, phd dissertation defense

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