Becoming a Superintendent: A Personal Odyssey*
After teaching for many years, I wanted to be an urban superintendent. To do that, I had to get a doctorate. Accepted at Stanford as a middle-aged graduate student, I arrived in 1972 with family in tow. The two years I spent at Stanford was a powerful intellectual experience. I had told David Tyack, my adviser then, (years later my teaching colleague, co-author, and dear friend) that I wanted to get a degree swiftly and find a superintendency.
With an abiding interest in history, I pursued courses that Tyack taught in history of education but also studied political science, organizational sociology, and the economics of education. If motivation and readiness are prerequisites for learning, I had them in excess.
Moving from being a veteran teacher in Cleveland and Washington, D.C. to becoming a researcher, I had to
