Leadership Matters April 2015

Demographics of Illinois K-12 Schools

superintendents from across the country. Eleven attendees from the first four years have gone on to become superintendents, with many more having been promoted to senior-level administrative positions. Dr. Shelly Davis-Jones attended the first institute in 2011

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Among the barriers minority candidates for the superintendency face, Collins and Harrison-Williams said, are ethnic and gender stereotypes, lack of certifications or

“The road is not easy and as a result of our own journeys, we are aware of the struggles African Americans encounter during their ascension to the top position, The increasing number of minority students across our nation validates the need for an increased number of minorities in the superintendency.” -- Round Lake Superintendent Dr. Constance Collins, co-director of the Institute.

degrees, reciprocity issues and discrimination. There also are issues on the part of some candidates, including not understanding what is involved in the superintendency or the community and board politics that are involved in being a superintendent. The purpose of the institute is to knock down as many of those barriers as possible. The institute not only includes top candidates from among assistant superintendents, directors,

and was back as a keynote speaker in 2014. She now is superintendent of Dolton District 149 in Calumet City and has written a book titled: “Filling the Seat: The Pathway to the Superintendency for One African American Woman Superintendent” in which she studies the journey of a person who became one of the few African American women school superintendents in the United States. In her book, Davis-Jones wrote, “I conclude by discussing the critical

coordinators, principals and other central office administrators to fill the 40 slots, but it also brings in school board presidents, executives from search firms and attorneys to serve as networking resources. Aspiring superintendents also are able to interface with more than a dozen African American

need for women, and especially Black women, to serve as formal and informal mentors, not just for those women who aspire to the superintendency, but

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