Corwin The Contemporary Superintendent: Preparation, Practice, and Development

Primarily focusing on the role of the superintendent in US school districts, this book also offers a coherent guide to critical professional aspects such as preparation for supervisory roles and staff development. Featuring the research of educational leadership specialists, it includes an array of useful, hands-on strategies for aspiring and existing leaders, as well as ideas for educational administration, leadership professional development, and educational policy. Review "Bjork and Kowalski have assembled a dozen contributors in this coherent guide that examines critical aspects of professional preparation, licensing and continuing development and the evolution of the role of the superintendent. If, as the editors state, a primary objective of the book is to "enlighten decisions that affect the preparation and licensing of school superintendents," that goal is realized and exceeded." -- The School Administrator Published On: 2006-01-01 About the Author Dr. Björk is an associate professor in the Department of Administration and Supervision at the University of Kentucky, Co-Director of the University Council for Educational Administration’s Joint Program Center for the Study of the Superintendency, and a Senior Associate Editor of Educational Administration Quarterly. He has co-edited several books including Higher Education Research and Public Policy (1988), Minorities in Higher Education (1994), and The New Superintendency: Advances in Research and Theories of School Management and Educational Policy (2001), co-authored, The Study of the American Superintendency 2000: A Look at the Superintendent of Education in the New Millennium (2000) and The Superintendent as CEO: Standards-Based Performance (in press). Theodore J. Kowalski, Ph.D., is a former public school teacher, principal, associate superintendent, and superintendent. He has taught at Purdue University and served as professor and director of doctoral programs in educational administration at Saint Louis University. From 1981 to 2000, he was employed at Ball State University, where he was dean of the Teachers College. In 2000, he became the Kuntz Family Endowed Chair in Educational Administration at the University Dayton. Professor Kowalski is the author of over 180 professional publications, including 27 books. He is the editor of the Journal of School Public Relations, serves on the editorial boards Educational Administration Quarterly and the AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, and was editor of the 2001 Yearbook of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. In 2011, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of School Administrators for his research and books on school administration. He has extensive experience as a planning consultant, speaker, and workshop facilitator. In addition to the superintendency, his primary research interests include organizational behavior, school public relations, and decision theory.