Differences in leadership traits between superintendents from traditional and nontraditional career paths

The traditional path to the superintendency usually encompasses a career that includes experience as an educator. For example, most superintendents begin their career as a teacher, and often progress to positions such as department chairperson, assistant principal, principal, central office administrator, and then superintendent. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in leadership traits between superintendents from traditional career paths and superintendents from nontraditional career paths. A qualitative case study was utilized to examine the leadership traits of two traditionally trained school superintendents who moved up through the ranks in education compared to two nontraditional school superintendents who had experience in fields other than education