{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132582"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132582","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"What can we learn from 10 superintendents who identify as instructional leaders: a qualitative study","abstract":"The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the instructional leadership of experienced and effective superintendents, focusing on how they define it, the standard strategies they employ, and how they perceive different contexts influencing their work. The ten superintendents interviewed for this research are among the most successful and influential superintendents in the country. One was named the National School Superintendent of the Year, two were state superintendents of the year, and among the ten superintendents, they have collectively authored 24 books, all while serving as full-time practitioners. Nine of the ten have extensive consulting and presenting experience, including serving as keynote speakers at multiple national conferences on educational leadership. Braun and Clarke's (2006) reflexive thematic analysis and used to identify themes related to instructional leadership. Data sources included semi-structured interviews and demographic surveys. The final themes were (a) effective instructional leadership entails transformational and adaptive leadership style for long-run success, (b) leader-member exchanges (LMX) leadership styles for short run success, (c) instructional leadership begets boundary-spanning collaboration, (d) effective instructional leadership requires educators to feel responsibility, effective instructional leadership that requires universal (re) focus of all goals and roles on student learning, (f) effective instructional leadership requires direct participation in all levels by superintendents (g), the outcome of effective instructional leadership is student learning equity, and (h) a culture of instructional leadership that is requisite for minimizing student learning inequity. The findings demonstrate the value of collaborative and shared practices to support instructional leadership and student equity.","abstract_html":"The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the instructional leadership of experienced and effective superintendents, focusing on how they define it, the standard strategies they employ, and how they perceive different contexts influencing their work. The ten superintendents interviewed for this research are among the most successful and influential superintendents in the country. One was named the National School Superintendent of the Year, two were state superintendents of the year, and among the ten superintendents, they have collectively authored 24 books, all while serving as full-time practitioners. Nine of the ten have extensive consulting and presenting experience, including serving as keynote speakers at multiple national conferences on educational leadership. Braun and Clarke's (2006) reflexive thematic analysis and used to identify themes related to instructional leadership. Data sources included semi-structured interviews and demographic surveys. The final themes were (a) effective instructional leadership entails transformational and adaptive leadership style for long-run success, (b) leader-member exchanges (LMX) leadership styles for short run success, (c) instructional leadership begets boundary-spanning collaboration, (d) effective instructional leadership requires educators to feel responsibility, effective instructional leadership that requires universal (re) focus of all goals and roles on student learning, (f) effective instructional leadership requires direct participation in all levels by superintendents (g), the outcome of effective instructional leadership is student learning equity, and (h) a culture of instructional leadership that is requisite for minimizing student learning inequity. The findings demonstrate the value of collaborative and shared practices to support instructional leadership and student equity.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Baldermann, Jack"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ed.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Roegman, Rachel","Hale, Jon","Herrmann, Mary Beth","Rice, Patrick"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["Superintendent Leadership","Instructional Leadership","Educational Leadership","School Leadership","District Leadership"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Jack Baldermann"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132582","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Roegman, Rachel","Hale, Jon","Herrmann, Mary Beth","Rice, Patrick"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Baldermann, Jack"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-12-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ed.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Superintendent Leadership","Instructional Leadership","Educational Leadership","School Leadership","District Leadership"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Jack Baldermann"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132582"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the instructional leadership of experienced and effective superintendents, focusing on how they define it, the standard strategies they employ, and how they perceive different contexts influencing their work. The ten superintendents interviewed for this research are among the most successful and influential superintendents in the country. One was named the National School Superintendent of the Year, two were state superintendents of the year, and among the ten superintendents, they have collectively authored 24 books, all while serving as full-time practitioners. Nine of the ten have extensive consulting and presenting experience, including serving as keynote speakers at multiple national conferences on educational leadership. Braun and Clarke's (2006) reflexive thematic analysis and used to identify themes related to instructional leadership. Data sources included semi-structured interviews and demographic surveys. The final themes were (a) effective instructional leadership entails transformational and adaptive leadership style for long-run success, (b) leader-member exchanges (LMX) leadership styles for short run success, (c) instructional leadership begets boundary-spanning collaboration, (d) effective instructional leadership requires educators to feel responsibility, effective instructional leadership that requires universal (re) focus of all goals and roles on student learning, (f) effective instructional leadership requires direct participation in all levels by superintendents (g), the outcome of effective instructional leadership is student learning equity, and (h) a culture of instructional leadership that is requisite for minimizing student learning inequity. The findings demonstrate the value of collaborative and shared practices to support instructional leadership and student equity.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Jack Baldermann, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-05 at 10:20.","The student, Jack Baldermann, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-12-05 at 10:31.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-12-05 at 10:56.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #23079 on 2026-02-19 at 18:29:47"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["What can we learn from 10 superintendents who identify as instructional leaders: a qualitative study"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Roegman, Rachel","Hale, Jon","Herrmann, Mary Beth","Rice, Patrick"],"dc:creator":["Baldermann, Jack"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-12-05"],"dc:description":["The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the instructional leadership of experienced and effective superintendents, focusing on how they define it, the standard strategies they employ, and how they perceive different contexts influencing their work. The ten superintendents interviewed for this research are among the most successful and influential superintendents in the country. One was named the National School Superintendent of the Year, two were state superintendents of the year, and among the ten superintendents, they have collectively authored 24 books, all while serving as full-time practitioners. Nine of the ten have extensive consulting and presenting experience, including serving as keynote speakers at multiple national conferences on educational leadership. Braun and Clarke's (2006) reflexive thematic analysis and used to identify themes related to instructional leadership. Data sources included semi-structured interviews and demographic surveys. The final themes were (a) effective instructional leadership entails transformational and adaptive leadership style for long-run success, (b) leader-member exchanges (LMX) leadership styles for short run success, (c) instructional leadership begets boundary-spanning collaboration, (d) effective instructional leadership requires educators to feel responsibility, effective instructional leadership that requires universal (re) focus of all goals and roles on student learning, (f) effective instructional leadership requires direct participation in all levels by superintendents (g), the outcome of effective instructional leadership is student learning equity, and (h) a culture of instructional leadership that is requisite for minimizing student learning inequity. The findings demonstrate the value of collaborative and shared practices to support instructional leadership and student equity.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Jack Baldermann, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-05 at 10:20.","The student, Jack Baldermann, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-12-05 at 10:31.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-12-05 at 10:56.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #23079 on 2026-02-19 at 18:29:47"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132582"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Jack Baldermann"],"dc:subject":["Superintendent Leadership","Instructional Leadership","Educational Leadership","School Leadership","District Leadership"],"dc:title":["What can we learn from 10 superintendents who identify as instructional leaders: a qualitative study"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ed.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z"}