Hispanic Superintendents in Kansas: Where are They?

Although Hispanic students have been a part of Kansas public education since the 1800s and have been the second largest student body since 2000, as of fall 2020, there is a shortage of Hispanic superintendents across the state. With over 20 percent of the student population being Hispanic across the United States, the lack of superintendents from the same ethnic group is not a unique phenomenon found only in Kansas. There is a disproportionately smaller representation of Hispanics in superintendency across the nation in comparison to their growing student population. Correspondingly at a national level, Hispanics are the largest growing student population while only two percent of the superintendents are represented from this same ethnic group. The purpose of this study was to investigate through the lived experiences of ten Hispanic education leaders in Kansas, their career pathways, supports, barriers, opportunities provided, and perspective on becoming a superintendent. This study sought to shed light and explore potential causes of this local and national occurrence of a longstanding ethnic disparity between those who lead districts and the populations they serve. To that end, the research questions that guided this study are: 1) What factors influence Hispanic administrators to consider a district leadership position within Kansas? 2) What are the real and perceived barriers that prevent Hispanic educational leaders from considering or pursuing superintendency positions (e.g., age, family status, years of experiences, school district type, size, or community type, degree attainment, initial interest, race, social norms, ethnic identities)? 3) What types of supports encourage current building leaders to pursue leadership from teaching into administration that could be replicated in other areas of the Hispanic educator pipeline (e.g., mentoring, networking, higher education programs, recruitment, and hiring processes)? The research questions are addressed through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ...