South Dakota Public School Superintendents

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South Dakota Public School Superintendents
Perceptions of InnovationSystems Change
Conference-2008 Dr.
Timothy M Mitchell
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Contact Information

• tim.mitchell_at_k12.sd.us
• http//tm026.k12.sd.us

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Theme

• Building Capacity Focused on Results
• Michael Fullan-2008 AASA NCE

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Learning is the Work

• Educational change depends on what teachers do
  and thinkit is as simple and complex as that
• Fullan

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Learning is the Work

• The best way to improve a school or district is
  by developing the people within it

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Building Capacity

• Fullan (2006) defined capacity building as an
  action based and powerful policy or strategy that
  increases the collective efficacy of a group to
  improve student learning through new knowledge,
  enhanced resources, and greater motivation on the
  part of people working individually and together.

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Building Capacity

• Schools improve when purpose and effort unite.
  One key is leadership that recognizes its most
  vital function to keep everyones eyes on the
  prize of improved student learning
• Mike Schmoker

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Building Capacity

• To create conditions for you to succeed by
  helping you find meaning, increased skill
  development and personal satisfaction in making
  contributions that simultaneously fulfill your
  own goals and the goals of the organization

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Building Capacity

• If a job is satisfying, then the result will be
  commitment to the organization
• The average person learns under proper conditions
  not only to accept but to seek responsibility
• Imagination, creativity, and ingenuity can be
  used to solve work problems by a large number of
  employees

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Building Capacity

• Use of methods based upon research
• To train and develop each worker
• Cooperation to ensure methods are implemented
• To divide the work evenly

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Purpose of Study

• To examine public school district
  superintendents perceptions of individual
  innovativeness, organizational innovativeness,
  and innovation behaviors.

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Purpose of Study

• Specific characteristics of public school
  district superintendents and public school
  districts were analyzed by the dimensions of
  individual innovativeness, organizational
  innovativeness, and innovation behaviors.

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Purpose of Study

• The three dimensions of individual
  innovativeness, organizational innovativeness,
  and innovation behaviors were compared to
  determine the likelihood of the adoption of an
  innovation in a public school district.

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Population

• All public school district superintendents
  serving public school districts in South Dakota
  during the 2007-2008 school year were the
  population for this study. The total number of
  public school district superintendents
  participating in this study was 165. The Response
  Rate was 83 (137).

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Research Base

• The process of adopting new innovations has been
  studied for over 30 years, and one of the most
  popular adoption models is described by Dr.
  Everett Rogers in his book Diffusion of
  Innovations (2003).

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Research Base

• He first published the theory of diffusion of
  innovation in 1962. Since that time, he has
  updated and changed his theory and has published
  the most recent edition (5th Edition) in 2003.
  Diffusion is the process by which an innovation
  is communicated through certain channels over
  time among members of a social system.

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Method

• The study utilized a researcher developed survey
  instrument that was based on the work of
  McCroskey (2006) Communication Research Measures
  Individual Innovativeness and Organizational
  Innovativeness.

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Definitions

• Individual Innovativeness The degree to which
  an individual is relatively earlier in adopting
  new ideas than the other members of a system
  (Rogers, 2003).
• (Handout)

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Definitions

• Organizational Innovativeness The degree to
  which an organization is relatively earlier in
  adopting new ideas than another organization
  (Rogers, 2003).

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Definitions

• Innovation Behaviors (Perceived Attributes)
  Most of the variance in the rate of adoption is
  explained by five behaviors relative advantage,
  compatibility, complexity, trialability, and
  observability (Rogers, 2003).

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Adopter Categories

• The individuals in a social system do not all
  adopt an innovation at the same time. It has
  become useful and efficient to describe each
  individual adopter in a system in terms of his or
  her time of adoption. Adopter categories are used
  as the classification systems for members of a
  system on the basis of their innovativeness. Each
  adopter category consists of individuals with a
  similar degree of innovativeness.

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Adopter Categories

• The first category of adopters is innovators
  (2.5). These are the risk-takers and pioneers
  who lead the way. The second group is known as
  the early adopters (13.5). They climb on board
  the train early and help spread the word about
  the innovation to others.

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Adopter Categories

• The third and fourth groups are the early
  majority and late majority. Each constitutes 34
  of the potential adopting population. The
  innovators and early adopters convince the early
  majority. The late majority waits to make sure
  that adoption is in their best interests.

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Adopter Categories

• The final group is the laggards (16). These are
  the individuals who are highly skeptical and
  resist adopting until absolutely necessary. In
  many cases, they never adopt the innovation.

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Method

• Demographic information about the public school
  district superintendents was obtained through
  the survey. Demographic information about the
  public school districts was obtained from the
  South Dakota Department of Education.

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Superintendent Characteristics

• Age
• Gender
• Years experience
• Educational level
• Professional development practices
• Professional organizational membership

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School District Characteristics

• Enrollment
• Financial resources
• Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Status
• Professional development capacity
• Average years of teaching experience
• Percentage of teaching staff with advanced degrees

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Conclusions

• Most South Dakota public school districts are
  smaller than 500 students with a general fund
  budget less than 4,500,000, rate at an average
  level as far as professional development
  capacity, employ a teaching staff with a high
  level of experience, and have very few teachers
  with advanced degrees.

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Conclusions

• Most South Dakota public school district
  superintendents are males, older than 48 years of
  age have more than six years of superintendency
  experience, have an Ed.S. degree, attend four to
  five professional development activities
  annually, and are members of four to five
  professional organizations

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Conclusions

• Most South Dakota public school district
  superintendents perceive themselves as highly
  innovative on an individual innovativeness
  survey. They also perceive their public school
  district to be innovative yet rate the public
  school district lower on an organizational
  innovativeness survey than they rate themselves.
  They also perceive their school boards as
  exhibiting innovative behaviors on a regular
  basis in a variety of situations.

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Conclusions

• Younger public school district superintendents
  perceive themselves and their public school
  districts as more innovative than older public
  school district superintendents.

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Conclusions

• The public school characteristics along with
  public school district superintendent
  characteristics do not significantly predict
  whether a public school district superintendent
  is innovative, the school district is innovative
  or that the school board will exhibit innovation
  behaviors. Some of the public school district and
  public school district superintendents
  characteristics did have greater predictive
  ability than others.

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Conclusions

• There exists a strong positive relationship
  between innovative public school district
  superintendents and innovative public school
  districts. Respondents in this study perceive
  leadership capacity is needed for a public school
  district to be innovative and organizational
  capacity is needed for a public school district
  superintendent to be innovative.

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Conclusions

• Public school districts exhibit more innovation
  behaviors if they have greater financial
  resources and a larger percentage of teachers
  with advanced degrees.

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Conclusions

• The largest adopter category of South Dakota
  public school district superintendents is early
  majority and according to Rogers (2003) they tend
  to have a high degree of opinion leadership, are
  respected by their peers, and they are the
  individual to check with before adopting a new
  idea.

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Conclusions

• The largest adopter category of South Dakota
  public school district superintendents is early
  majority and according to Rogers (2003) they have
  a high degree of opinion leadership, are
  respected by other public school districts, and
  are the public school district to check with
  before adopting a new idea.

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Conclusions

• Public school district superintendents that
  perceive themselves as innovative are found in
  public school districts with larger enrollments,
  greater financial resources, greater professional
  development capacity, and teachers with more
  years of teaching experience. They are more
  likely to be female.

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Conclusions

• Public school district superintendents that
  perceive their public school district as
  innovative are found in public school districts
  with larger enrollments, greater financial
  resources, greater professional development
  capacity, and teachers with more years of
  teaching experience. These public school district
  superintendents have a higher educational degree
  level and more professional organization
  memberships.

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Recommendations for Practice

• This study has shown that leadership is critical
  in innovative public school districts and that
  resources are needed by public school districts
  to develop leadership and organizational capacity
  to sustain innovation. Policy makers should note
  that investment in building capacity in
  leadership and organizational capacity is a
  critical factor in fostering innovation.

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Recommendations for Practice

• Public school district superintendents need to
  consider the importance of building their own
  leadership capacity through professional
  development, securing advanced degrees, and
  establishing intra-personal networks through
  memberships in professional organizations.

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Recommendations for Practice

• This study indicates that funding is critical in
  innovative public school districts and resources
  are needed to sustain the teaching staff, to
  provide professional development activities to
  build leadership capacity, and to provide
  professional development activities to build
  organizational capacity.

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Recommendations for Practice

• This study indicates that the size of the public
  school district, the amount of available fiscal
  resources, the investment in professional
  development activities, and the experience level
  of teachers can be factors in promoting
  innovation in public school districts. Policy
  makers and public school districts need to pay
  extra attention to these factors and be prepared
  to invest resources in these areas as they try to
  promote innovation in public school districts.

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Recommendations for Practice

• This study indicates that public school district
  superintendents with higher educational degrees
  and a greater involvement in professional
  organizations perceive themselves as more
  innovative. Public school districts, policy
  makers, and federal agencies need to invest in
  life-long learning for public school district
  superintendents and provide the resources to join
  professional organizations.

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Recommendations for Follow-Up

• The Six Secrets of Change What the Best
  Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive
  and Thrive-M. Fullan
• Love your employees
• Connect peers with purpose
• Capacity building prevails
• Learning is the work
• Transparency rules
• Systems learn

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Thank you!

• Questions and comments