Date of Award
8-2024
Culminating Project Type
Dissertation
Styleguide
apa
Degree Name
Educational Administration and Leadership, K-12: Ed.D.
Department
Educational Administration and Higher Education
College
School of Education
First Advisor
John F. Eller
Second Advisor
Steven Emerson
Third Advisor
David O Lund
Fourth Advisor
Kim Hiel
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Women of Color, Gender, Obstacles, Superintendency, Support
Abstract
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify select Minnesota women of color superintendents. (1) Report on the obstacles and challenges they encounter, essential leadership characteristics, identify needs, policies, develop regulations, manage the day-to-day operation of the district while examining the successful pathway to the superintendency. (2) To analyze how select Minnesota woman of color superintendents’ personal beliefs and attributes align with being responsible for monitoring projects’ development, ensuring deadlines, quotas, how outputs are being met while encountering challenges as well as showing leadership skills as superintendents. (3) Provide current and future school administrators with communication, team building, operational flexibility, instructional knowledge and problem-solving strategies through obstacles they face and do so successfully as educational school leaders. These select Minnesota women of color superintendents were selected to participate in the study from a recommended list of superintendents who are successful educational leaders in the role of the superintendency. Data was collected in the form of semi structured in-depth interviews. The findings from the study identified the strategies, essential leadership characteristics considered necessary described by the selected women of color superintendents were cooperating, innovation, communication, and detailed resolutions through barriers enabled successful outcomes.
According to Superville “Like other district leaders, female district leaders of color education experiences are rooted in the classroom, the building level, and district support positions. Among a range of options, they were more likely to select classroom teacher, principal, district-level coordinator or supervisor, and associate superintendent or deputy superintendent among their past professional experiences than they were to pick a non-teaching role such as counselor or the military” (Superville, 2023, p. 1).
Women of color superintendents are devoted, and all students are their focus since they occupied the classrooms as teachers. They continue to support the students and the schools whether they are principals, coordinators, supervisors, associate or deputy superintendents. They are educational leaders with strategies that address challenges, their actions promote problem solving techniques, and their female perspectives encourage teamwork as leaders. Women of color superintendents enact positive, lasting change that benefits the lives of students, teachers and administrators. Women of color superintendents are on the rise as they are committed to improving the school environment and fostering student learning.
Recommended Citation
Tamez, Juanita, "Obstacles Women of Color Encounter as Educational Leaders and The Successful Pathway Leading to The Superintendency" (2024). Culminating Projects in Education Administration and Leadership. 122.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/edad_etds/122
Comments/Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
I am truly blessed and thankful to our Jesus Lord Father above. I am forever grateful to my mom for constantly reminding me of the importance of an education and my extended family for encouraging me to keep going in my educational path. I am thankful to my husband Emilio Sr. who has supported me throughout my educational journey, to my wonderful children Elizabeth Ember, Kassandra Karrie, Daisy Deanna, Breana Brandi, Emilio Jr., as well as my grandchildren Armani Gabriel and Raelynn Skye for the constant patience filled with love, they all gave me while I walked this extremely rewarding path of accomplishment in my career as an educator. I am appreciative to my brother Mario that through long distance communication prayed for my successful pathway in achieving such an enormous accomplishment in my career. Thanks to the Rivera and Tamez Familia for the words of encouragement that helped me to keep going and realizing that I could achieve this high-level goal in educational studies.
To my friends, coworkers and supportive professionals that I met while working on my studies whose words of encouragement brought me closer to my goals. I have been working hard throughout the years to inspire my children, my grandchildren, my family and every student out there that looks for guidance. I want to inspire others to get an education, that we all are equal in everything, that all can succeed in fulfilling their goals because if we dream it, we can make it come true. During my educational journey I came across many students that looked at me for guidance and support. If I can be a role model to them that would be such a rewarding gift, especially students that come from other countries who need someone to pave the road for them from start to finish. Nothing is so big that with support from teachers, principals and superintendents all students can climb up that ladder of achievement. Students need a valuable education and as educators we can encourage them to believe in themselves, so if you believe it, you can achieve it. As an educator, I look forward to assisting all students that they may achieve their dreams and be successful in their future careers.
I want to express my gratitude to my Advisor/Chairman Professor Dr. John Eller for his assistance in my dissertation journey as he guided me through the many steps in my writing process and his continuation of support throughout my years as a doctoral student. Dr. Eller inspired me through his countless teachings that through hard work your writing will turn into drafts, then into chapters and finally when everything is finished, I will have reached that mountain with my research accomplishment and be called Dr. Tamez. Many thanks to Professors Dr. Steven Emerson and Dr. Dave Lund for all their valuable much appreciated guidance during my writing process in helping me achieve my goals. Thanks to Dr. Kim Hiel superintendent of the Osseo school district whose words of encouragement and thoughtfulness helped build me up in my dissertation journey.
I am amazingly grateful to my lord father Jesus in molding me to be the best I can be in achieving my educational goals and all the achievements I have accomplished through the years. Especially for helping me climb up step by step to that mountain of hard work, dedication with patience and being able to stand at the top of that mountain as I finished my doctoral program to receive the long-awaited blessed title of Doctor in Education, Dr. Juanita R. Tamez.