Catholic school superintendents serve according to the mandate of the bishop and how he defines the roles of superintendent, diocesan school board, central education office and diocesan school principal. Personnel of the diocesan superintendency exercise leadership more by persuasion, encouragement, coordination, and stimulation than by control, supervision, and regulation. Catholic school principals generally enjoy greater autonomy in the administration of their respective schools.
Nonetheless, there exists a distinct juridical and interdependent relationship between central and local levels which allows for the possibility of overlapping administrative tasks. The current study investigated this interdependent relationship by measuring the actual perceptions and ideal expectations for six administrative task areas: Catholicity, finance, personnel, curriculum-instruction, governance-government, and development. Specific hypothesis were formulated to determine perceptional differences and interactions in the locus-of-responsibility between the two reference groups.
Data were collected using an 80-item survey questionnaire, pre-tested for validity and reliability. Superintendency personnel (n = 52) and principals (n = 112) from 20 dioceses were surveyed using a five-point semantic differential scale with central office and diocesan schools as the polarities on the continuum. Item and task area mean scores were calculated for actual and ideal perceptions of the two groups. Hypotheses were analyzed using the t-test and three-way ANOVA with repeated measures.
The outcomes of the current study indicated that central office and diocesan school administrators have, in general, opted for an interdependent leadership model involving the mutual sharing of responsibility for the administration of diocesan schools. Both groups perceive the ideal locus of responsibility for the Catholic dimension, finances, development and personnel as one best served by mutual collaboration. While there is agreement that governance and governmental matters are best handled at the central level, the two groups fundamentally differ regarding responsibility for curriculum and instruction--for principals: their basic responsibility; for central office staff: a greater participatory role.
Overall, there is a shift (between current and ideal perceptions) in the level of administration responsibility from primarily a local level concern toward greater involvement of, and collaboration with, the central office.
