NEAT > Roles & Responsibilities > Student-Centered Accountability > Introduction > Superintendents  Print View
The Role of Superintendents

Superintendents, occasionally known as chancellors, chief executive officers or chief administrative officers, are legally obligated to carry out the policies of the board of education or in some cases mayors or county executives.

Superintendents are usually a district’s most visible representative and are critical in defining its culture, shaping decisions, encouraging innovation and improvement, and creating a supportive work environment for faculty and staff.

The superintendent, with the administrative, district, or central office staff:

  • Monitors school progress and budgets and reports to the board and the public;
  • Selects curriculum and materials (within the confines of state law);
  • Oversees training and development of principals and teachers;
  • Negotiates contracts with employees unions;
  • Manages facilities;
  • Ensures equitable distribution of materials, equipment and information to schools;
  • Creates short- and long-term plans;
  • Hires, assigns and fires principals and other staff, usually with board approval; and
  • Prepares budgets for the board’s approval.

In federal parlance, the district administration is know as the “Local Education Agency” or LEA.

January 2005 - Education Action Guide, Power Analysis: Who Can, Who Should, Who Will, Center for Community Change (page 29).

 

The framework and much of the information provided on these pages is unabashedly swiped from Goff, John, A More Comprehensive Accountability Model, Council for Basic Education, November 16, 2000, in an effort to make the model more accessible to parents.