Superintendents' responses to the achievement gap: an ethical critique

Abstract

The authors have used an ethical perspective to critique superintendents' responses to the achievement gap as measured on standardized tests in Virginia (USA). The Standards of Learning (SOL) Tests have been administered for the past five years in grades three, five, eight and in 12 different high school courses. Findings from an empirical study reported elsewhere [Grogan, M. and Sherman, W. (2003) Superintendents in Virginia dealing with issues surrounding the black‐white test‐score gap. In D. Duke, M. Grogan, P. Tucker and W. Heinecke (eds) Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability (Albany, NY: SUNY Press)] have been interpreted using Starratt's (1994) multidimensional framework. Brief comments about the achievement gap and the current discourse on the superintendency introduce the paper. The study is then summarized and the findings discussed in the light of the theoretical lens.