Supts say 89% of school boards are effective

On Board Online • November 9, 2020

By Paul Heiser
Senior Research Analyst

About nine in 10 New York superintendents rate their board of education as either "somewhat effective" (39.6%) or "highly effective" (49.7%), according to the latest in a series of reports on the state of the superintendency by the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

"This is a significant and very encouraging finding," NYSSBA Executive Director Robert Schneider said after the session. "Research has shown that the key to being an effective board is placing a high priority on increasing student achievement. So, it was good to see that 95% of superintendents who responded indicated that their communities have maintained or increased their focus on student achievement."

According to the Council's report, board effectiveness is characterized by multiple attributes including operating responsibly, making informed decisions and reflecting the feelings and attitudes of the community. The council also rated effectiveness by asking superintendents if their board avoids micromanaging district operations and understands the school system's financial condition, as well as whether the board agrees with the superintendent on most issues.

Superintendents William Heidenreich of the Valley Stream Central High School District and Phyllis Harrington of the Oceanside School District, both contributing authors of the report, detailed the report's findings in session during NYSSBA's 2020 Virtual Convention & Education Expo.

Snapshot 2020: The 10th Study of the Superintendency in New York State, is the latest in a series of reports NYSCOSS has published since 1991 that detail the attitudes and characteristics of school superintendents across the state. The most recent prior report was released in 2015.

Based on a survey that received responses for 65% of superintendents, the council's 2020 report focuses on trends in school leadership, superintendent-school board relationships, and contractual/retirement data. This year's edition stood out for its use of colorful graphics, some of which are reprinted on this page.

Board-superintendent relations

Among the many findings from the report were superintendents' views of their relationships with their boards of education. One key finding was that more than nine in 10 superintendents felt they had the support of their boards of education a vast majority of the time. Ninety-one percent said their boards regularly support them and their actions 81% to 100% of the time.

More than half of school chiefs (55%) thought the annual evaluation of their performance by the school board improved their job performance. Responding superintendents also indicated that board meetings and relations with board members occupy 13% of a school superintendent's week.

Job satisfaction

Most superintendents in New York report a high level of job satisfaction. Eighty-nine percent of superintendents indicated that they would share with others that they felt their job as a school superintendent was satisfying - up six percentage points from 2015. To further illustrate the point, the percentage of respondents that would encourage their own children to become superintendents increased from 64% in 2015 to 69% in the 2020 survey.

That's not to say the job doesn't have its share of challenges. Nearly two-thirds (63%) indicated they find the job more stressful than they expected compared to 31% indicating that it was not as stressful as they were expecting. The area in which superintendents felt the least prepared was in political advocacy at both the state and local level, a skill that Heidenreich said is an important part of a superintendent's job but for which there is little exposure prior to becoming superintendent.

Retirement

According to the data, superintendents as a group appear to have gotten younger. Thirty percent of all respondents were over the age of 55, down from 39% in 2015. Superintendents in earlier pension tiers appear to be aging out of the profession. The number of superintendents in Tier IV of the NYS Teachers Retirement System jumped from 74% in 2015 to 90% now.

Nonetheless, 45% of superintendents plan to retire in the next four years. Perhaps more concerning for school boards, 71% of superintendents reported that their district has no succession plan in place. Heidenreich pointed to the need for leadership academies to groom the next generation of superintendents.

Gender

While women comprise 77% of teachers, females hold just 27% of superintendent positions in New York. Snapshot 2020 found that the percentage of female superintendents declined for the first time since the survey's inception - from 30% in 2015 to 27%. However, women comprised a greater share of more recently hired superintendents in 2020.

The survey also found that women tend to take their first superintendent positions at older ages than men. Females typically start as superintendents between the ages of 46 and 60, while men start earlier, between the ages of 31-45. Overall, there is a higher percentage of male superintendents between the ages of 36-55 and a higher percentage of women leaders above the age of 55. More women are at the helm of suburban and small city schools as opposed to rural schools and BOCES.