External Influences on School Systems & Superintendent's Challenges

Superintendent's Challenges

In every community, there are many external influences that have strong affects on the local school system. These influences can come from parents, political and legal patterns, and demographic characteristics, to name just a few (Hoy & Miskel, 2001).

Because of these changing demographics, the growing diversity of communities, and other external influences, the role of the superintendent is faced with even greater challenges in the 21st century (Kowalski, 1999). Organizational health is most effective when the schools mirror the norms, values, and philosophies of the surrounding society (Rowan, 1993). However, for a school to mirror the community surrounding it, the leader must first have a clear understanding of that community.

Other essential leadership steps that transform schools include creating a clear vision for the school, developing a strategy to accomplish this vision, and communicating effectively with all stakeholders (Yukl, 1998). Schools cannot transform themselves.
Therefore, when school improvement efforts are needed, the broader administrative, social and political environment must be considered (Sergiovanni, 2001). In fact, effective change is largely influenced by the political community, attitudes of teachers, the school board, and administration (Kirst, 1984). Because of the many stakeholders involved, successful leadership recognizes and cultivates collaborative leadership within
these diverse groups (Lambert, 1998; Sergiovanni, 1992). Still, one of the most powerful advocates to transform a school district is the superintendent working with the support of the school board and the community (Fullan, 1993).

Successful schools are built when there is a link between the school “being able to develop social capital for all its students” (Sergiovanni, 2001, p.177) and their engagement with the school. Schools develop social capital by being caring communities (Sergiovanni, 1994), which leads to a sense of community that binds everyone to a shared ideology (Pellicer, 1999; Sergiovanni, 2001). The superintendent must be a great communicator of this ideology, as well as a great persuader, especially when working with the local school board (Houston, 2001). In fact, just as in Blytheville ISD, the “disconnect” between superintendents, school boards and the community can result in years of dysfunction and student suffering. Healing can only come when school leaders care enough about the larger community to address issues of diversity, recognize the political climate of the community, and communicate a shared ideology. Ultimately, ideologies influence what we believe and what we do and tie people together to commit themselves to a course of action (Sergiovanni, 2001) which, hopefully, will result in a
school district that is focused on students as learners.

Discussion
1. Discuss the impact on a school district of a changing community population.
2. Identify strategies that a school district should have in place to address changing diversity of its population? How might this have diminished the conflict within this case study?
3. What external factors affect a school other than diversity of population?
4. Why should the school district consider external factors in its planning?
5. Based on general knowledge about leadership styles, what role might leadership have had in the contentious relationships of these superintendents and the school board?

6. Why does collaborative leadership appear to be most productive in this school district for bringing about positive change?
7. Suggest ways that a university superintendent or principal preparation program could better prepare students to incorporate the practice of collaborative leadership.
8. Discuss the “concern-based adoption model” of change (Hord, Rutherford, & Hall, 1987), and identify steps for the superintendent to follow when implementing this strategy to bring about change.
9. Identify strategies for developing and implementing the concept of “social capacity” within diverse school communities that builds learner-centered schools.