Superintendents’ perceptions regarding the supervision and evaluation of principals in a rural state

Abstract

The goals for this quantitative study were to examine superintendents’ perceptions regarding their own supervision and evaluation of principals in a rural state. Five research questions guided the qualitative inquiry: (1) What are the perceptions of superintendents’ regarding their supervision of principals?; (2) What are the perceptions of superintendents’ regarding their evaluation of principals?; (3) What are the perceptions of novice and experienced superintendents regarding principals’ formative supervision?; (4) What are your greatest strengths as you supervise and evaluate principals? and (5) What recommendations would you give to improve your supervision and evaluation of principals? An online survey tool was used to gather perceptions from superintendents regarding their own evaluation and supervision of principals. Participants solicited included all 48 superintendents from a rural Mountain West state. Out of the participants solicited 23 superintendents agreed to participate (48% response rate). Results from this study provided implications for those who train superintendents and those who supervise and evaluate principals.