This study examines Illinois school superintendents' perceived importance of the Illinois school superintendent content area standards and performance indicators. This study is significant because it provides an opportunity for rigorous reflection in identifying Illinois school superintendents' perceived importance of superintendent behaviors that support educational leadership standards. It offers data for thoughtful consideration to define and change performance indicators to succinctly identify activities which correspond to the superintendent content area standard for which it represents. This study further validates good practice, promotes learning, and models continuous improvement behaviors to maximize the use of Illinois school superintendent content area standards. This research assists 1) colleges and universities in the preparation and training of superintendents; 2) boards of education in the superintendent recruitment, hiring, and evaluation process; and 3) current superintendents with reflections to guide professional placement and intrinsically motivate activities for professional growth. In this quantitative study, 357 out of 869 Illinois superintendents responded to a three-part survey comprised of Likert-type scale respondent choices. Multivariate analysis, descriptive statistics, and profile analysis assessing flatness, parallelism, and levels of tests were used. Research results reveal that superintendents do perceive the standards and performance indicators as important performance activities that guide Illinois school superintendents' practice, understanding, and beliefs for their role as school leaders. This study further discloses that superintendents perceive some standards and performance indicators more important than other standards and performance indicators; superintendents perceive more time is spent on some standards and performance indicators than on other standards and performance indicators; a lack of alignment exists between superintendents' perceived importance of the standards and their perceived importance of the performance indicators; and significant differences exist in both superintendents' perceived importance of the standards and their perceived importance of the standards as measured by the performance indicators in the importance subscales for district and personal demographic characteristics of type, enrollment, location, earned degree, gender, and number of years spent as a superintendent in and outside Illinois. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]