The first 90 days: securing early success in the superintendency

UnrestrictedThe purpose of the study was to gain greater insight into the first 90 days of the superintendency, to verify whether this period of transition is important to the success of superintendents, and to understand the value that superintendents assign to the time frame. The study was designed to identify whether superintendents used formal and/or informal entry plans and whether these plans provided a significant aid to superintendents in the transition period. The study focused on identifying strategies, plans, and conceptual frameworks that were used in the first 90 days by successful superintendents. Included in this purpose was to discover those mistakes that superintendents reported that they may have made so that these lessons could be communicated to persons who might assume the post of a new superintendency.; A mixed-methods design consisting of qualitative and quantitative components was employed to address three research questions. Individual superintendent interviews were conducted and served as the qualitative research tool, and an electronic superintendent survey distributed through the Association of California School Administrators served as the quantitative research tool. Qualitative methods were used to identify patterns during the entry period from the perspectives of the superintendents. Quantitative data provided a base of trends on which to anchor the qualitative data. The qualitative and quantitative portions of the current study were examined separately and then the findings from each were analyzed to provide a triangulation of the results. The study concluded that the entry period was vital to the success of these incoming superintendents. The majority of these superintendents did not have a formal entry plan, but rather an informal plan with a wide variance of strategies. Participants reported that they were unprepared for the political aspects of the superintendency, especially board-superintendent relationships