The Texas public school superintendent, 1971-72

Abstract

The fundamental problem of this study was to investigate the status of the school superintendency in Texas public schools relative to its; (1) personal dimensions, (2) professional experience, (3) professional preparation, and (4) the superintendent at work and the issues that concern him. A secondary problem was to compare the findings of the study with the profile of the national superintendents as reported in the 1970 AASA study of The American School Superintendent. The significance of the study is that it provides a wider base of information relative to the status of Texas superintendents than was heretofore available. Data for the study were obtained through the use of a questionnaire modeled after the one developed for the AASA study. The questionnaire was mailed to the 972 public school superintendents in Texas listed with the Texas Education Agency during the spring term of the 1971-72 school year. A total of 571 usable questionnaires were completed and returned, representing nearly 60 percent of the superintendents contacted and over 70 percent of the students enrolled in the Texas public schools. Background information included previous surveys of the superintendency status by the AASA, a previous Texas study made in 1967, by Dr. W.M. Stoker, and related literature dealing with public school administration. The data were electronically computed and tabulated by the Data Processing Center at Texas A & M University. Seventy-eight tables were presented and analyzed in the study. ...