Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.

Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.

(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)

AN ANALYSIS OF A BLACK SUPERINTENDENT'S LEADERSHIP STYLE IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

FRANK NAPIER, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

Statement of the research problem. This study seeks to determine the relationship of a black superintendent's (the researcher's) leadership style in the urban school district of Paterson, New Jersey, during the priod to 1976-1982, and the increase in student achievement. The feeling of educators and laymen alike is that our large urban educational centers need dynamic, effective black leadership and "leadership" is the most important component of a superintendent's job. The researcher examined a previous study to determine those variables that described the role and role expectations of black school superintendents and the relative importance the superintendents placed on eleven school-related problems. The researcher identified five of these school-related problems: instructional program relevance, accountability, student use and abuse of drugs, student discipline, and community relations to influence student achievement, in the city of Paterson, New Jersey. Purpose. The basic hypothesis central to this study was that the leadership style of the black superintendent will significantly improve student achievement. The researcher presents the reader an analysis of a black superintendent's leadership style in relation to five school-related problems which he identifies as being of immediate importance to the Paterson School District. The five school-related problems were discussed using the following three perspectives: the person, the structure and the skills. The study was limited to the urban public school district of Paterson, New Jersey, and the specific questions of the study were: (1) What is the relationship between principal and teachers' atitude and student achievement? (2) How are administrative attitudes and behavior affected by the leadership style of the black superintendent? (3) What are the major dimensions of the black superintendent's job as determined by the special operating conditions and constraints of his leadership style? Findings and conclusions. The main hypothesis of the study, that the leadership style of the black superintendent will significantly improve student achievement in the Paterson School System, was substantiated qualitatively. The hypothesis, is tenable within the limitations imposed by the researcher's hypothesis, the design of the study, the nature of the facts elected by it, and due to the evidence available.

Subject Area

School administration

Recommended Citation

NAPIER, FRANK, "AN ANALYSIS OF A BLACK SUPERINTENDENT'S LEADERSHIP STYLE IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT" (1984). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI8410319.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8410319

Share

COinS