dc.contributor.author	Milton-Babalola, Takiwi
dc.coverage.spatial	Southern States	en_US
dc.coverage.temporal	2022-2023	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-30T14:35:15Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-30T14:35:15Z
dc.date.issued	2024-04-19
dc.identifier.other	a31a3b7a-e351-4f3e-b403-693bfcf2283e	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/7169
dc.description.abstract	The United States has long struggled with retaining superintendents in public school districts, with a retention rate of only 32% to 43% over the past decade. The low retention rate is concerning as it can negatively impact the quality of education offered to students and staff morale. The twofold purpose of this research was to identify factors predicting superintendent retention and examine the relationship between grit, organizational commitment, and retention. A survey was distributed to 462 active superintendents during the 2022-23 school year using revised instruments for the Grit Short Scale and the Three-Component Model revised, as well as demographic questions and retention information. I used two quantitative approaches, Pearson correlation (RQ1) and binary logistic regression (RQ2), to analyze the relationships and predictability of grit and organizational commitment to superintendent retention. According to the study findings, continuance and organizational commitment were identified as predictors of retention. The findings indicated the combination of gender and district description as significant predictors of retention. The results of the study did not find any significant evidence to suggest grit played a role in predicting retention. The findings indicated strong positive correlations between grit and grit subscales (passion and perseverance) and organizational commitment and its subscales (affective and normative commitment). There was a positive association between grit and affective commitment. These findings can provide valuable insights for school boards, higher education leaders, and superintendent preparation program leaders in developing policies to enhance superintendents’ recruitment, selection, training, and leadership development.	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Background1 Statement of the Problem 2 Purpose of the Study 4 Research Questions and Hypotheses 5 Theoretical Framework 6 Methodological Approach 8 Significance of the Study 8 Assumptions of the Study 10 Limitations of the Study 10 Definition of Terms 11 Organization of the Study 12 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 14 Superintendency History 14 Superintendency Role Evolution 15 Superintendent as School Board Clerk 16 Superintendent as Teacher-Scholar 17 Superintendent as Business Manager 18 Superintendent as Democratic Leader 18 Superintendent as Applied Social Scientist 19 Superintendent as Communicator 20 Gender Historical Perspective of the Superintendency 21 Superintendent Gender Gap 23 Gender Barriers in the Superintendency 25 Conceptualizing Superintendent Retention 26 Female Superintendent Retention 31 Superintendent Retention in Urban Schools 32 Superintendent Retention and Skill Set 33 Grit and the Current Study 34 Historical Conceptualization of Grit 34 Passion 36 Perseverance 37 Four Stages of Grit 38 Grit Scale 39 Grit and Superintendents 40 Grit and Retention 41 Organizational Commitment and the Current Study 46 Organizational Commitment History 46 Side-Bet Period 47 Affective-Dependence Period47 Multi-dimensional Period 48 Concept of Organizational Commitment 49 TCM of Employee Commitment 50 Affective Commitment 50 Continuance Commitment 51 Normative Commitment 51 TCM of Employee Commitment Scale 52 Organizational Commitment and Superintendents 52 Organizational Commitment and Retention 53 Grit and Organizational Commitment 58 Summary 59 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 61 Purpose of the Study 61 Research Questions and Hypotheses 61 Research Design 62 Population and Sample 64 Variables65 Data Collection 66 Instrumentation68 Grit-S Structure68 Grit-S Validity and Reliability 69 TCM of Employee Commitment Survey Structure 70 TCM of Employee Commitment Survey Validity and Reliability 71 Data Analysis 72 Missing Data 72 Confirmatory Factor Analysis 73 Correlation and Binary Logistic Regression Analysis 74 Statistical Considerations and Assumptions 76 Limitations of Research Design 76 Summary 77 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 78 Introduction 78 Purpose and Questions78 Descriptive Statistics 79 Missing Data and Outliers 79 Frequency, Summary Statistics, and Normality 80 Validity 83 CFA for Grit-S 83 CFA for TCM Revised 84 Research Question 1 86 Research Question 2 87 H1: Passion and perseverance will predict retention 88 H2: Grit will predict retention 88 H3: Affective, normative, and continuance commitment will predict retention89 H4: Organizational commitment will predict retention 90 H5: Gender and district description will predict retention 91 Summary 92 CHAPTER V: FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 93 Summary of the Study 93 Background Information93 Purpose of the Study 94 Research Questions and Hypotheses 95 Findings and Conclusions 96 Descriptive Statistics 96 Research Question 1 98 Research Question 2 100 H1: Passion and perseverance will predict retention 100 H2: Grit will predict retention101 H3: Affective, normative, and continuance commitment will predict retention 102 H4: Organizational commitment will predict retention 104 H5: Gender and district description will predict retention105 Implications for Policy and Practice 108 Retention Practices 108 Recruitment and Selection Practices 109 Superintendent Development 109 School Board and Superintendent Association Policies 110 Limitations 111 Recommendations 111 Summary 112 REFERENCES 116.	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic record. PDF/A document, 179 pages, 2673004 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Dissertations, Academic--United States	en_US
dc.subject	Educational leadership	en_US
dc.subject	Education	en_US
dc.subject	Education--Administration	en_US
dc.subject	Employee retention	en_US
dc.subject	School superintendents	en_US
dc.subject	Southern States	en_US
dc.title	Superintendents in the South: An Examination of Grit, Commitment, and Retention	en_US
dc.type	Dissertation	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Leadership, Technology, and Workforce Development of the Dewar College of Education and Human Services	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Hill, D.
dc.description.committee	Bochenko, Michael
dc.description.committee	Nobles, Kathy
dc.description.degree	Ed.D.	en_US
dc.description.major	Educational leadership	en_US