Iowa State University
College of Human Sciences
 

News Releases

Iowa State hosts Summit on Gender Equity in the Iowa Superintendency,

November 17, 2008

Iowa State hosts Summit on Gender Equity in the Iowa Superintendency,

The Iowa Department of Education reports that for the 2006-07 school year, only 11 percent of district superintendents in the state are women. And Scott McLeod sees this as a problem.
 
McLeod, an associate professor in higher education and coordinator of the educational administration program, is gathering 30 of the state's most influential education players for the Summit on Gender Equity in the Iowa Superintendency on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
 
"People have looked at this issue before, but there hasn't been a real, targeted effort to do something concrete about it," McLeod said. "The goals of the summit are to identify action steps, prioritize those, identify ways to collect data and monitor progress of those steps, and really hold ourselves accountable about doing something once and for all about this.
 
Representatives from all Iowa Regents universities, Drake University, current superintendents, the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women, School Administrators of Iowa, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Association of School Boards, and superintendent search firms will attend the day-long workshop. Additionally, Cryss Brunner, associate professor at the University of Minnesota, will present her research findings from a national superintendent study. McLeod is optimistic about the outcomes of the meeting.
 
"I don't want it to be another meeting where we sit around and bemoan the statistics," McLeod said. "The summit will make the issue more visible and make the major players commit to something that will help us move forward on this subject."
 
McLeod sees the summit becoming an annual exchange where administrators and educators can gather to continue to develop - and implement - practical solutions to this issue. He said through reporting, data collection, and monitoring, schools and universities can create more targeted methods to encourage women to take on academic leadership roles.

Contacts:

Scott McLeod, associate professor of educational administration, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 515 294-4871.

Cathy Curtis, communications and web editor, 515 294-8175.

Laura Dillavou, communications specialist, 515 294-3689.

A summit at Iowa State University will address gender equity among K-12 school leaders in Iowa.

"I don't want it to be another meeting where we sit around and bemoan the statistics," said Scott McLeod, associate professor in educational administration and summit organizer. "The summit will make the issue more visible and make the major players commit to something that will help us move forward on this subject."