Presentation shared at successful Dissertation Defence on June 10, 2021. University of Kansas

1. Dissertation DEFENSE
Chris Kennedy
How BC school superintendentsspend their time
Chair: Dr. Yong Zhao
Date: June10, 2021

2. Overview
Every school district across North America has a superintendent – but what exactly do they
do?
This study was intended to develop a better understanding of how school superintendents
spend their time.
All British Columbia superintendents were surveyed
Demographic data including superintendent gender, years in education, years as
superintendent and district size was gathered. Superintendents were asked to rate their
level of involvement in 33 areas. They were also asked questions about time and the
impact of COVID-19.

3. Why does this Matter?
There are various “right ways” to be a school superintendent
District leadership matters
British Columbia is regarded as one of the top performing jurisdictions in the world
Chance to better explain the work to current superintendents, future candidates, boards of
school trustees, superintendents’ association, universities, and ministry of education

4. LITERATURE REVIEW
Armbruster (2011)
Kowalski (1999)
Hentscke et al. (2008)
time
Meador (2019)
Farrell (2013)
Campbell and Fullan (2019)
tasks
Marzano and Waters (2006)
Plotts and Gutmore (2015)
Chingos et al. (2016)
performance
McGregor et al. (2019)
Leithwood (2013)
Harris (2020)
Canadaand covid

5. What did this Study do?
Analyzed the
demographics of
the
superintendency
A questionnaire to
determine level of
involvement in tasks
and time spent in
different areas
Written responses
on the control of
time and the
impact of COVID-
19
01 03
02

6. 98%
High Participation Rate Helps Set This Study Apart

7. 38% female
(21 of 59)
59% in first five
Years in current position (35 of 59)

8. Demographic Highlights
Years in District
Years in Position
Gender
Male 38 (64%)
Female 21 (36%)
0-5 years 35 (59%)
6-10 years 14 (24%)
11-15 years 7(12%)
16+ years 3(5%)
District Populations
0-2000 students 15 (25%)
2001-6000 students 17 (29%)
6001-10,000 students 10(17%)
10,001 – 16,000 students 8(14%)
16,001 – 22,000 students 3 (5%)
22,000 + students 6 (10%)
0-5 years 21 (36%)
6-10 years 9 (15%)
11-15 years 5 (8%)
16+ years 24 (41%)

9. Superintendents and tasks
Board Relations Community Relations 3.95
Strategic Planning Curriculum / Instruction 3.83
Governmental Agencies Community Relations 3.68
Parent Organizations Community Relations 3.54
Indigenous Relations Community Relations 3.34
Citizen Complaints Community Relations 3.14
Alignment Curriculum / Instruction 2.98
Fiscal Planning Financial Management 2.86
Professional Development Curriculum / Instruction 2.81
Adoption Curriculum / Instruction 2.73
Top 10 - Highestlevel of direct responsibilitytasks

10. Superintendents and time
On adminduties
With board
On educationalleadership
0-5 Hours 7 (12%)
6-10 Hours 21(36%)
11-15 Hours 14(24%)
16-20 Hours 10(17%)
21 and Above 7 (12%)
0-5 Hours 1(2%)
6-10 Hours 3(5%)
11-15 Hours 13(22%)
16-20 Hours 12(20%)
21 and Above 30(52%)
0-5 Hours 9 (15%)
6-10 Hours 17(29%)
11-15 Hours 19(32%)
16-20 Hours 9(15%)
21 and Above 5(9%)

11. “I feel I have no control over my time. I try
to manage it and set boundaries but have
felt pulled in many directions and it is hard
to prioritize what should come first.”
— 1st Year SUperintendent
Reflecting on control over time . . .

12. “I work seven days a week supporting
schools and our health authority response
to the pandemic.”
— Experienced Superintendent
Reflecting on COVID-19. . .

13. Nine big Themes
urgency Educational leaders Learning vs.community
gender Student population experience
Boardsmatter Time and perspective COVID-19Complexity

14. Superintendent Gender Has an impact
numbers time future
More female superintendents
comparitively to the United
States but far fewer than
teachers or principals in British
Columbia.
Female superintendents are
more directly involved in tasks
and spend more time with
boards and on educational
leadership than male
superintendents.
Opportunity to better
understand where females
superintendents are being hired
and why they specifically
allocate time like they do.

15. Student population matters
size threshold time
Superintendents in smaller
districts have more direct
involvement in leadership and
management tasks especially in
very small districts
At about 6,000 students there
is a leveling off of how involved
superintendents are in areas of
leadership and management
Smaller district = more time for
educational leadership

16. Some stunning numbers with experience
NEw Little impact Support
Fifty-nine percent of
superintendents are new to
their roles in the last five years.
Thirty-six percent are in the first
five years in their district.
The impact of experience was
far less than the impact of
either gender or size of school
district.
There is a real opportunity to
support new superintendents in
their roles given how new so
many are in their positions.

17. Superintendents are drawn into the urgent
tyranny balancing advice
Tyranny of the urgent was a
very common refrain from
superintendents when
discussing the control that they
had over their time.
Superintendents shared their
efforts to balance the variety of
competing demands but the
challenges it placed on their
time.
There is some useful advice for
boards and the ministry in how
they create their timelines for
items that require the
superintendents’ attention.

18. A commitment to educational leadership
The E Primary They are teachers
Superintendents, regardless of
how much time the spent on
educational leadership, saw this
as the key to their job.
Unlike with human resources, or
finance or students services –
superintendents often took
primary responsibility for
educational leadership
BC school superintendents are
trained teachers who have
moved up, usually as principals
eventually to be superintendent
– it should not be surprising
learning is a focus.

19. Learning leader vs. community leader
compete relationships DoingBoth?
In the study it was clear that
being the learning leader and
being the community leader
fight for the time of the BC
school superintendent.
Strong relationships with
various internal and external
partner groups were seen as
crucial to doing both of these
tasks.
For future study, it would be
useful to look further at how
school superintendents who are
able to do both are able to
manage the competing
demands.

20. Boards Matter
Time Main thing Support
There were dramatic
differences in how many hours
superintendents spent with
their Boards.
For virtually all superintendents
they identified themselves as
the primary contact for the
Baord and in written answers
shared the hours of time
invested in the relationships.
There is an opportunity to
support superintendents in their
work with boards, particularly
given the range of experiences
and inexperience of many
superintendents.

21. Control of time is a matter of perspective
Yes and No Outside Influences Future
There was a fairly even split
between those superintendents
who felt they had control over
their time and those who didn’t.
The Ministry of Education and
local boards and their demands
were identified as key reasons
for those who felt a lack of
control.
It would be worth better
understanding the barriers that
superintendents saw to
controlling their time.

22. Covid-19 created complexity and opportunity
All Consuming perspective possibilities
Superintendents commented on
how this year COVID-19 had
been all consuming – often
seven days a week working
with health and education
partners.
Some superintendents could
see the positives of less travel
and more flexibility that have
been results during pandemic.
While only a miniority of the the
views shared, some did see the
“silver linings” that were
emerging in their system and
areas that should not return to
pre-COVID.

23. implications
superintendents
Boardsand ministry
Superintendents’
association
Community

24. BC School Superintendents
are driven by purpose – to
enhance learning
opportunities and outcomes
for all students