| The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership behaviors of superintendents in school districts where the achievement gap between African-American, Hispanic, and White students is closing. Four urban school districts in four states (California, Florida, New York, and Texas) that have at least 50% minority populations and designated by their state education agencies as exemplary, or high performing, districts were targeted.;Superintendents, school board members and district level administrators were interviewed using nine open ended questions designed to generate responses that described the influence of the superintendent through focused behaviors, written directives, and the use of organizational structure. Interview responses were triangulated with the District Strategic Plan and participant-observer field notes for each district visited.;All of the superintendents in this study exhibited shared behaviors and priorities regardless of local political factors: a heavy reliance on data collection and decision making, steady use of mantras, organizational structuring of district personnel, inclusion of school boards in directional control, an emphasis on accountability and evaluation of campus principals, and purposed visibility in the community. The findings of this study concur with the instructional leadership portion of the Effective Schools movement (Lezotte and Papperl, 2002) that superintendents who concentrate on instructional leadership will systemically influence the district toward closure of the achievement gap.;Conclusions include that superintendents who are highly focused on student achievement see all of their job duties in this framework. District leaders should remain professional supporters of teacher improvement, but focus accountability efforts at the campus principal level. Mantras that leaders believe in are powerful tools in focusing groups with different agendas on a central agenda on which all can agree.;KEY WORDS: Superintendents, Achievement gap, Urban school districts, Charter Schools, Student achievement. |
