In theAmerican education system, asuperintendent orsuperintendent of schools is anadministrator of aschool district, alocal government body overseeing public schools. Allschool principals in a respective school district report to the superintendent.
The role and powers of the superintendent vary among areas according to Sharp and Walter, a popularly held opinion is that "the most important role of theboard of education is to hire its superintendent."[1]
The first education laws in the United States were enacted in thecolonial era, when variousNew England colonies passed ordinances directing towns "to choose men to manage the important affairs of learning, such as deciding local taxes, hiring teachers, setting wages, and determining the length of the school year."[2] The persons responsible were frequentlyselectmen who had additional government responsibilities.[3]Boston establishedAmerica's first permanent school committee in 1721; this became America's first school board.Massachusetts and some other regions retain the termschool committee, butschool board andboard of education are the more common terms nationwide, and a variety of other labels have been used.[3] In 1986, about 95 percent of school board members were elected, with the rest appointed by town boards, mayors, or others.[4]
In early America, school board members handled the day-to-day administration of schools without the need for a superintendent. By the 1830s, however, the increasing numbers of students, as well as the consolidation ofone-room schoolhouses into larger districts, led districts to begin appointing the first superintendents.Buffalo, New York, became the first location to appoint a superintendent, on June 9, 1837, withLouisville, Kentucky, following on July 31 of the same year.[4] Large cities, which had the greatest administrative needs, were the first to appoint superintendents, but as schools consolidated into districts, the practice of appointing a superintendent became more popular.[4]
A major event in thehistory of education in the United States was the "Kalamazoo school case" (Stuart v. School District No. 1 of the Village of Kalamazoo).[4] In 1858, Kalamazoo, Michigan established its first high school, and the following year, theMichigan Legislature enacted legislature authorizing the election of school districts and the establishment of high schools funded by local taxes.[5] In January 1873, three Kalamazoo property owners filed a lawsuit challenging the law.[5] In a unanimous decision of theMichigan Supreme Court in 1874 written by the prominent JusticeThomas M. Cooley, the law was upheld.[5] This decision led to a dramatic increase in the number of high schools operating both inMichigan and other states, which led to an increase in the number of superintendents.[4][5]
Early superintendents tended to focus on instruction, with "overall fiscal affairs, school building construction, and maintenance" remaining under school district control, becoming normal responsibilities of superintendents only in the early twentieth century.[6] By the early twentieth century, superintendents emphasized business affairs.[7] Important leaders in American education at the time were George D. Strayer,Ellwood P. Cubberley, andEdward C. Elliott, who all wrotedoctoral dissertations on education finance atColumbia University in the first decade of the 20th century.[7] Cubberley served as superintendent inSan Diego and later taught atStanford University, Strayer taught atTeachers College, Columbia University, and Elliott taught at theUniversity of Wisconsin.[7]
In 1911, the idea of the superintendent as a separate professional emerged.[7] The emergence of the superintendency was linked to the adoption of a business organizational model in education.[7] Beginning in 1914, Columbia and other universities began to teach courses on educational administration, including school finance, business methods, budgeting, and organization.[7] Cubberley wrote a book in 1916 on this "New Profession" and emphasized the role of superintendent aschief executive of schools.[8] In 1914, theUS Commissioner of Education wrote that the US was moving "unmistakably in the direction of a profession of educational administration as distinct from teaching."[9] By 1925, journals and books on educational administration had adopted a view of superintendents as executives, as Cubberley had advocated.[8]
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