Superintendent Characteristics and Their Relationship to Student Achievement in Reading and Mathematics

Abstract

The relationship between superintendent longevity and student achievement has been variably shown in numerous states to have a positive correlation or no correlation. The goal of this study was to provide additional correlational research that would have a positive effect on school board hiring practices, district management, and student achievement. Publicly available data at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction was the source of the student achievement and superintendent data. Correlation analysis was used to determine if there was a relationship between three characteristics of superintendents ? local experience, total experience, and highest degree earned ? and six measures of student achievement ? reading achievement scores, reading growth scores, reading gaps scores, math achievement scores, math growth scores, and math gaps scores. Understanding that there are many factors that affect student achievement, the percentage of students that were economically disadvantaged was also included in this study. Local or total experience of a superintendent was not significantly correlated with any measure of student achievement. The highest degree a superintendent earned was significantly correlated with reading gaps score and math achievement score.