Women school administrators

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of male principals in the State of Florida toward women aspiring to school-based administrative positions. Specifically, the study examined the following: (1) the overall attitudes of male principals toward women, (2) their attitudes toward selected behavior traits, (3) their attitudes toward selected feminine barriers, (4) their attitudes toward selected manager traits, and (5) their overall attitudes toward women with relationship to five selected demographic characteristics: organizational level of employment, age, race, length of time in position, and school enrollment size. In order to assess the attitudes of male principals toward women, a questionnaire was mailed to 700 selected principals in public schools throughout the State of Florida. Of the 700 questionnaires mailed, 74 percent (517) were completed and returned. The questionnaire contained five demographic data items and twenty-one opinion statements which constituted the attitude scale. A seven step Likert-type scale was used to measure the strength of reported attitudes. The seven possible response choices for each item on the attitude scale were as follows: (1) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) slightly agree, (4) neither agree nor disagree, (5) slightly disagree, (6) disagree, and (7) strongly disagree. Eleven of the opinion statements were positively directed so that agreement response choices indicated favorable attitudes toward women, and ten statements were negatively directed so that agreement response choices indicated unfavorable attitudes. In order to facilitate analysis of the data, each response choice was assigned a numeric weight which ranged from one to seven with the higher weights being assigned to the response choices that were more favorable toward women. Therefore, the higher a respondent's total score on the twenty-one opinion statements, the more favorable were his attitudes toward women. Analysis of the data clearly indicated that male principals in the State of Florida reported favorable attitudes toward women. Only 1.4 percent of the respondents expressed overall attitudes that were unfavorable toward women. A separation of the Women as Managers Scale into its three sub-elements indicated that 98.1 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected behavior traits, 90 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected feminine barriers and 97.5 percent expressed favorable attitudes toward selected manager traits. However, the intensity of favorable attitudes varied with each opinion statement. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients indicated that the relationship of the five selected demographic variables to male principals' overall attitudes toward women was not statistically significant at the .05 level. The principals' overall attitudes toward women aspiring to school-based administrative positions were not significantly related to their organizational level of employment, age, race, length of time in position, or their school enrollment size. The study concluded with the following recommendations: (1) The study should be repeated with the same target population using a different instrument; (2) An attitude scale should be developed that specifically measures attitudes of principals toward women; (3) Further research is necessary in order to determine if attitude difference exists due to sex of the principal or to the nature of attitudes unique to the principalship; and (4) A method of assessing attitudes of male principals that excludes the social desirability factor identified as prevalent in attitude questionnaires needs to be developed.

Based on an observation that women have been more successful in ascending to the level of school superintendent within southern school districts that use electoral procedures, this study examined unique electoral strategies women superintendents use that maybe transferable to women who aspire to the superintendency within districts in which appointment is the only means of ascension. The researcher interviewed five superintendents in districts within the southern United States. The data were analyzed using three conceptual frameworks: (a) Murphy's governance theory, (b) Ferguson's bureaucratic theory, and (c) Lather's emancipatory theory. The data were also evaluated in terms of elected and appointed school districts. Analysis of the data revealed four emerging themes: (a) career pathway and representative democracy, (b) political administrative elite and the bureaucracy, (c) gender dichotomy, the representation of self, and (d) building networks of support. The data revealed information about each superintendent's personal attributes that contributed to her electoral success, which included: (a) career path, (b) support system, and (c) and motivation to run. The superintendents also discussed mediating factors that shaped their campaign strategies and electoral success, which included: (a) negotiating powerbrokers within the community, (b) their relationship with the school board, (c) governance issues, (d) personal leadership philosophy, (e) power, and (f) gender stereotypes. Findings from the study provide guidance to those women aspiring to the superintendency in appointed school districts suggesting that appointed women superintendents recognize, understand, and negotiate the bureaucratic structure and governance framework as supported by the state and administrative elites.

The purpose of this study was to determine the actual job functions of the elementary school assistant principals in relation to their career aspirations. This was done by comparing the job functions of assistants who chose assistant principalship as a stepping-stone to principalship with those assistants who chose assistant principalship as a career. In addition, a comparison was done between the career aspirations of male and of female assistant principals. The study also compared the perceptions of the job functions of assistant principalship between principals and assistant principals and between male and female assistant principals. The Assistant Principal Job Function Questionnaire was developed by the researcher to determine the actual job functions of assistant principals in six categories of responsibility: (1) School Administration and Supervision, (2) Curriculum and Instructional Supervision, (3) Pupil Services, (4) Clerical Work, (5) School/ Community Relations, and (5) Professional Development and Involvement. The questionnaire was mailed to all 122 elementary school administrators in the Palm Beach County Schools. Fifty-three principals and fifty-seven assistant principals responded, making a total of 110, or 90 percent. A Chi-Square analysis of responses was done to determine significant relationships in each of the comparisons. Findings of the study suggest that there were significant differences in the perceptions of the job functions of the assistant principalship (1) between assistant principals and principals, (2) between male and female assistant principals, and (3) between the assistants who aspired to principalship and those who did not. There was a significant difference between male and female assistant principals in their career aspirations. The principals recognized their responsibility for the training of their assistants for principalship, but many female assistant principals were undecided about seeking the principalship. Assistant principals consistently perceived themselves to have more responsibility than the principals perceived them to have. Male assistant principals perceived themselves to have more responsibility than the female assistant principals perceived themselves to have. Assistant principals who chose the assistant principalship as a stepping-stone to the principalship perceived themselves to have more responsibility than the assistant principals who chose the assistant principalship as a career perceived themselves to have.

The purpose of this study was to discover how ethnicity, gender, and mentoring influenced the career experiences of Jamaican administrators in Sunshine County Public Schools (SCPS), a pseudonym that was used for a large public school district in Florida. This qualitative, phenomenological study focused on the career experiences of eight Jamaican administrators in SCPS. Seven of the participants were all native-born Jamaicans and one was a first generation Jamaican, born in England to Jamaican parents and raised in Jamaica until the age of 14. The researcher gained this understanding by interviewing participants in-depth about how their Jamaican ethnicity, gender, and personal mentoring experiences impacted their personal and professional journey as administrators in SCPS. Findings and conclusions will inform mentoring and educational leadership literature on strategies for success geared toward this understudied population.

Although current employment statistics paint a promising picture for women in general, they fail to address both the multitude of challenges women face in their attempt to secure leadership positions or in their ability to gain and maintain support from their female colleagues. Black women, in particular, tend to be torn between their fabled image to others in the organization and their official duties and responsibilities at work. This paper discusses definitions and conceptual uses of horizontal and vertical violence by Black female educational leaders ; problematizes the phenomenon as outlined by Freire (1970) at the theoretical level ; outlines the proposed qualitative methods, which will be used to investigate the phenomenon further ; and taking Paulo Freire's lead, explores the implications of sabotage or violence coming from members of the same minority group. In this specific case, Black female educational leaders will serve as the primary participants of the study. Once the data is collected and analyzed, the paper will include an analysis of the data and a discussion of the findings followed by recommendations based on the findings of the study.