What women know: a qualitative study of the perceptions of female superintendents in South Texas

The research literature on educational leadership has been quiet for over a decade on the subject of females in the superintendency. This researcher found that some of the extant literature on representation of women in the superintendency has been misleading and may have helped to create a silence this crucial conversation. An anomalous concentration of female superintendents in mostly rural South Texas has prompted this inquiry. Of the 19 female superintendents initially invited to participate, the seven respondents who agreed to be interviewed revealed they have all had experience leading rural school districts as superintendents, with five of the seven still holding rural superintendent posts, and two of the participants now leading larger high-needs districts in South Texas. In the nation 60% of female superintendents serve in rural settings, without a full support staff to face the same challenges and duties of suburban districts (Lemasters & Roach, 2012). South Texas faces critical shortages in personnel due to impending retirement and turnover of existing school administrators and superintendents (Wesson & Marshall, 2012). It is difficult to recruit and retain the best talent necessary to solve tough school improvement challenges—high dropout rates, high poverty, low student achievement, complex needs of increasingly multi-cultural populations—in high needs, Hispanic majority, primarily rural school districts (Trevino Jr., Braley, Brown, & Slate, 2008; Wesson & Marshall, 2012). The most experienced and best-prepared teachers and administrators are women, but female educators are not being tapped for leadership and are not aspiring to the superintendency in numbers proportional to female representation in the field of education (Kruger, 2008; Roser, Brown, & Kelsey, 2009; Young & McLeod, 2001). This naturalistic study of seven female superintendents in South Texas, including leaders in large and small rural high needs districts, illuminated perceptions and experiences of female school leadership through portraiture and lent insight into common themes regarding aspirations and motivations of females to serve as educational leaders