Superintendents of American residential schools for the deaf: a profile

Data on selected characteristics of superintendents of American residential schools for the Deaf were gathered in a 1999 survey. The resulting profile of superintendents of residential schools was then compared with a profile of superintendents of public elementary and secondary schools that had been compiled in 1992 by the American Association of School Administrators. The study population consisted of the lead administrators of the 72 residential schools for the Deaf in operation in the United States at the time of the survey. One particularly note-worthy finding was that these superintendents reported the same beliefs about their essential responsibilities that had been reported by superintendents of public elementary and secondary schools. The greatest disparity between the two groups of superintendents was in how they characterized their relationships with their governing boards: Generally, the residential school superintendents reported relationships that were less formal. The study, apparently the first attempt to profile superintendents of American residential schools for the Deaf, establishes a baseline for future studies of this kind.