Date of Award

Spring 5-2006

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Research

Committee Chair

Johnny Purvis

Committee Member 2

James T. Johnson

Committee Member 3

Clyde Ginn

Committee Member 4

Mary Nell McNeese

Committee Member 5

Richard Keaster

Abstract

In 1990 a new idea swept through the educational industry. Forty-nine school districts in Pennsylvania instituted a new form of organizational management called clinical supervision. In effect, this was a change in the relationship between administration and teachers concerning instructional behaviors. Formerly, when teachers were supervised and evaluated by administrators, they felt intimidated. They also felt their privacy was being invaded. Clinical supervision is an attempt to organize the methodology of teacher supervision while improving instruction. The purpose of this study was to provide data to the participating school districts for use in developing supervision, evaluation, and involvement training modification programs and to determine which of the participating districts were increasing in the use of clinical supervision practices. Results from this study indicate that 57 percent of superintendents from south-central Pennsylvania school districts participated in this study. The findings from this 28 of 49 superintendents indicate that a significant relationship did exist between school superintendent’s perceptions of the clinical supervision process and the number of years the clinical supervision process had been implemented in the school. In other words, the longer the process was in place, the more effective it was found to be. This study has implications for school superintendents, policy makers and researchers regarding the role of school superintendents in improving instruction through the clinical supervision process. The emphasis on supervision of instruction in schools is greater now than in the previous decades, reflecting an increasing importance of instructional leadership and in the superintendent’s role and responsibility.

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