As our educational landscape continuesto evolve and seeks to meet the challenges of educating a diverse multiculturalpopulation, district superintendents and their staff endeavor to providequality and timely professional development for all building leveladministrators. The training and professional development provided by thedistrict office is ongoing. There can be a disconnection in the articulation ofa new initiative or instructional strategy that is phased out by the climatewithin various schools in the district. Each school has identified areas ofboth strength and weakness and planned school wide, team, and individual goalsfor both teachers and students growth. This school year each school in thedistrict was required to begin the awareness and practice stages towardsimplementation of project base learning (PBL).
Public education in America is constantly changing andevolving. Federal legislation, No Child Left Behind in 2002 began another waveof innovation and standards based reform in which school administrators werecalled on to work their magic. In the American School Superintendent (2010),Kowalski, McCord, Peterson, Young, & Ellerson state that: Now, more thanever the work portfolio of America’s school superintendents is increasinglydiverse: they are responsible for student progress and achievement whilebalancing the diversification of their student and staff populations, theexplosion of technology and the digital divide, an expanded set of expectationsand involvement from the federal level, the media, and board and communityrelations, all in the context of an increasingly globalized education system.(p. 2) Superintendents may hold one of the toughest jobs in the nation (Sharp, Malone,and Walter, 2001). Paul Houston (2001), executive director of the AmericanAssociation of School Administrators, states that the “job of theSuperintendent is impossible, the expectations are inappropriate, the trainingis inadequate, and the pipeline is inverted” (p.
428). Houston also cites anumber of trends that have made district leadership so difficult: “changingdemographics and growing diversity, a fragmenting culture, deregulation in theform of vouchers and charter schools, decentralization of power, and increasedaccountability with no additional authority” (p. 428).
