Are Superintendents Responsible for Lower Student Performance? How a Superintendent’s Policymaking Affected Student Scores

Abstract

While research acknowledges the importance of superintendents as instructional leaders, when district leadership falters, a gap persists in the existing literature that does not allow a complete picture of the causes of failed leadership. All too often, we simply blame teachers. The purpose of this study was to better understand how a superintendent’s implementation of policies without a communicated vision and teacher support negatively affected student performance as measured on state standardized assessments. When teachers do not see the value of district policies but are still forced to enact those policies, those teachers lose both autonomy and agency. Consequently, student learning suffers. We found through the results of this study that a superintendent was an influential factor in a reduced student performance on standardized assessments.