In the highly politicized education climate of modern public schooling, a superintendent is charged with moving a school system forward in terms of academic achievement, community building, and operational functions. Managing to accomplish this multifaceted task requires leadership that transcends oneself and moves the stakeholders of a system to embrace change with the leaders of an organization. Moving a school district toward its goals can be accomplished through uniting the components of the organization through a vision for the future. Leaders who are able to accomplish are described as Visionary Leaders.
Superintendents often lead their communities through a vision setting process but there seems to be a disconnection between theory and practice in many schools at the site level. As an educator, I have noticed a lack of understanding of the district vision at the site level. My perception is that having every school site align their mission and goals with district vision will benefit teachers and students. The goal of this synthetic research paper is to understand how a superintendent can cast a vision of the future that sets a coherent and inspiring direction, moving a school district toward an achievable mission and related goals. This paper will attempt to answer the
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Rothman (DATE) argues that leadership is often mythological in proportion and compares modern leader to heroes that the public desires to save them from their problems. A single definition, feature, or behavior of leadership has yet to draw consensus. Theories exist about the inherent traits that make one a natural leaders. Other theories contend that the situation determines the style of leadership. More recently, leadership theories focus on the actions of leaders and define leadership as a process of engaging others in relationships and decision making (Amanchukwu, Stanley, Ololube,