An overview of my doctoral plan for the University of Kansas

1. UNDERSTANDING HOW BC SCHOOL
SUPERINTENDENTS SPEND THEIR TIME

2. PREMISE
 BC is one of the highest performing jurisdictions in the world
 District Leadership plays an important role in school success
 There is no clear job description for the Superintendent position
– each Board is completely autonomous in their hiring
 So, just what occupies the time of British Columbia
Superintendents?

3. VIRGINIA STUDY
 Erica Armbruster did a 2011 study as part of his doctorate for
Virginia Commonwealth University
 “How Virginia’s Public School Superintendents Spend Their Time”
 Survey and follow-up interviews

4. MY PLAN
 Take the Armbruster Study and replicate it for British Columbia
 Contextualize it for the British Columbian and Canadian context
 Update the survey to include areas, like technology and
communications which have changed and grown in importance
in the last 10 years since the Virginia study

5. WHY DOES THIS
MATTER?
 It is important for the people in the role to better understanding
the similarities and differences across the province
 For Boards and the Ministry to better understand the work of
superintendents to guide support and professional development
 To consider issues of superintendent’s gender, experience,
district size, and urban / rural in defining the work of the
superintendent
 There is regular turnover in the position, and it is in the system’s
best interest to better understand this crucial position

6. MY PERSONAL
INTEREST
 I have done this job for 10 years
 There is little oversight or feedback, and a limited job description
 The job seems to be what one makes of it
 There seem to be multiple ways to do it “right”
 I am curious about what is in commong

7. LIMITATIONS
 Voluntary
 There are 59 other (busy) superintendents – would like to get
most of them to participate
 It is a political position so anonymity will be important

8. FINAL THOUGHTS
 Trying not to take on too much
 Initially had wanted to link how superintendents spend their time
to student success – too complicated as “student success” is hard
to determine
 Keep the premise simple – what do BC superintendents do?