Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

 

AN EFFICACIOUS THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE OF RURAL FEMALE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS‘ SELF-SUSTAINABILITY

John M. Palladino, Eastern Michigan University
Jean M. Haar, Minnesota State University
Marilyn L. Grady, University of Nebraska-Linoln
Kaye Perry, Maxwell Public Schools

Document Type Article

Abstract

The landscape of the rural superintendancy is in the midst of a leadership turnover as a significant number of its current administrators reach retirement age. Discussions in the literature have delineated the characteristics of successful rural superintendents and the barriers that threaten their achievement. It lacks, however, adequate discussion of how women have aspired to and sustained success in rural superintendencies. The qualitative case study presented in this report includes the narratives of five novice, rural, and female superintendents. An efficacious theoretical framework was identified as the lens through which the accounts could best be analyzed and discussed, including proposed implications for additional research to further explore this framework and the academy’s preparation of rural female superintendents.