turnover – ��

Superintendent Churn Comes With a Cost for Students

Linda Jacobson — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Compton, Calif. — Fifteen years ago, the challenge of leading the Compton Unified School District would have scared off even the most confident education leader. Darin Brawley almost passed it over.

The urban system, just off one of Los Angeles’ major freeways, was headed for state takeover and had a 58% graduation rate. When the opening was posted, “I thought, ‘Compton, I don’t want to be in Compton,’ ” Brawley said.

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But Brawley saw a “pocket of success” at some elementary schools that he could build on. Accepting the job in 2012, he instituted a set of routines, like in-school tutoring and frequent multiplication practice. Weekly quizzes let teachers know precisely which students need extra help.

Fourteen years later, the district, with a 91% poverty rate, is one of the nation’s .

“If you go back 15, 20 years ago, Compton was not the place where most parents would have kept their kids,” he said. In fact, it was the first district in California where families tried to convert a low-performing elementary school into a charter under a . “Now, we see a reversal.”

The district is also one of only 78, out of the nation’s 500 largest, that has maintained consistent leadership at the top since the pandemic, according to a from ILO Group, a consulting firm. At the state level, all but seven have changed education chiefs at least once, with more turnover coming once new governors take office next year.

As in Compton, ILO’s data shows, students are better off when district leaders stay longer.

In those with no leadership changes between 2019 and 2025, kids performed better in reading and math — showing at least a month of extra learning — than those in districts with turnover. In women-led districts, the advantage was nearly two extra months of learning in math, based on the Stanford Education Data Archive, a comparable measure of student learning across states.

“Stability really matters within a community,” said Julia Rafal-Baer, the ILO Group’s CEO. In those with high turnover, the kids who were in kindergarten at the start of the pandemic have likely seen multiple reading programs “or their parents were asked to start one more strategic planning process. It gets old.”

Other districts in the top 500, sometimes embroiled in controversy, have experienced multiple leadership changes since the pandemic. , for example, is on its fourth chief since 2020. Former Superintendent Devon Horton was on charges that he assaulted his wife in front of his two children.

The East Baton Rouge district in Louisiana is also on its fourth superintendent since 2020, with current leader Lamont Cole facing charges for bribery and money laundering stemming from his time as a . He denies the accusations, and board members say they support him. But they’ve also tightened up .

Overall, ILO’s latest review shows that churn is down for the first time since the pandemic. Last year, it appeared that districts had reached a “new normal,” with turnover ranging from 20% to 23% for five years straight. But this year, among the top 500, it has dropped to 17%, which is closer to the typical pre-COVID levels of reported by AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

Rafal-Baer cautioned that while the “carousel of leadership seems to have slowed down,” the results are just a snapshot. “This isn’t a return to normal so much as the system finally catching its breath.”

The decline in turnover, she added, could point to the current financial constraints on districts as they adjust to the end of federal relief funds and ongoing declines in enrollment.

“These searches are very expensive,” she said. A recently spent about $48,000 to find a new leader, while the Clark County district’s search in 2024 . “There may be less of a desire to tell your community, when you’re cutting assistant principals, that you’re now going to spend money on a search firm.”

A ‘flashpoint’

Rachel White, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and founder of a on school superintendents, suggested the pandemic years were an anomaly. School board fights over COVID-related closures, masks and culture war issues “were obviously quite volatile,” she said, and in multiple districts, led to superintendents being abruptly dismissed.

That was “hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime flashpoint,” she said. “Maybe school boards … are less likely to do away with the superintendent who they disagree with ideologically on one thing.”

Her own research on superintendent turnover echoes connections ILO made between student learning and consistent leadership. While studies prior to the pandemic showed of turnover on student outcomes, “chronic instability” can hit neediest students the hardest, White said.

According to a new , she found that students in high-poverty districts with repeated leadership turnover were about two months of learning behind in math and six weeks behind in reading compared with those in systems with the same leader since 2019.

Leaders who stay in a district longer are more likely to transfer knowledge throughout the organization, she said, and often build up trust with the public.

“The longer a superintendent stays, the more people believe they are committed to that community,” she said. “You can take some risks. It’s really important to be able to say, ‘Hey, this might not work out, but I think there’s potentially some return on investment here.’ ”

Policy experts like to talk about “durable” learning and success for schools. , a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says that not only is leadership churn “one of the greatest threats to durability,” but that school boards need superintendents who view instruction as the chief priority, not just one of many initiatives.

Brawley, who was a science teacher and principal in other districts before moving into leadership, has such a “strong convictions” about improving math and reading, White said, that he’s been able to keep the district moving forward despite other political issues that superintendents often navigate.

“There’s a real belief that these students are brilliant and they just need the right resources and a stable teacher workforce,” she said.

His methods aren’t popular with everyone. The Compton teachers union president has on testing. But Cecilia McDuffie, principal of Foster Elementary, said the emphasis on data, combined with practices implemented at all schools, has helped her students rise from the bottom.

On a recent morning, a week after school started, Foster students spent time responding to the writing prompt: What do you like about your teacher? Leaders increased their focus on writing — and significantly cut back on screen time — after observing that students couldn’t recall what had been taught.

“We know that writing elicits a connection,” Brawley said. “If you don’t write it down, you’re not really learning it.”

Foster was not a “pocket of success” when Brawley arrived in Compton. In 2014, less than a quarter of students met or exceeded state standards in reading and math. Last school year, 77% of students scored that high in those subjects, and 73% reached that level in science, nearly hitting the goal of 75%.

McDuffie said that Brawley has created systems that will outlast him.

“If he were to leave tomorrow, I would know that I always need to have a plan. I need to always refine my plan based on data,” she said. “And I need to start all my interventions early. You can’t wait until March.”

Cecelia McDuffie, principal of Foster Elementary School, said systems, like a districtwide focus on writing and frequent multiplication practice, has helped her school become one of Compton’s highest performing. (Linda Jacobson/��)

While ILO’s data captures the pandemic period, some districts, like Bridgeport, Connecticut, have experienced frequent turnover across a much longer period. Since 2005, the district has had eight superintendents, and former leader Carmela Levy-David left in late 2024 after a near-unanimous from the teachers union. Each transition “carries some costs,” said Joseph Sokolovic, vice-chair of the board.

“New leaders often bring new priorities, and different approaches to implement those priorities,” he said. “Community and board relationships must be rebuilt. Trust must be earned again.”

But he said it’s important to put the instability in context. Two turnovers occurred while the district was . The district also has one of the highest-poverty rates in the state, and spends than wealthier districts like Greenwich, which has seen even in the past 20 years.

“No superintendent, regardless of talent, can eliminate concentrated poverty or erase decades of economic neglect,” Sokolovic said. With the district currently conducting another search, he said the district needs “a leader willing to commit for the long term, someone who understands the complexities of an urban district and is willing to confront difficult issues directly.”

‘Route to the superintendency’

School boards should also look for instructional expertise, said Rafal-Baer.

A women-owned organization, ILO Group keeps close track of where women are becoming district chiefs and their routes to the position. shows that women are twice as likely as men to have an academic post, like curriculum specialist, on their resume. But just a handful of current superintendents came from a position leading curriculum and instruction.

“Given where student outcomes stand right now, you would expect the academics seat to be the surest route to the superintendency. It turns out to be one of the rarest,” she said. “Boards keep saying instruction is the priority. Their hiring says otherwise.”

Among the top 500 districts in the U.S. the percentage of leaders who are women is up to 34%. (ILO Group)

Overall, 34% of superintendents in the top 500 districts are women, a 1 percentage point increase since last year and a 6-point jump since 2019. Fifty-one of the nation’s women superintendents are also a first of some kind in their districts — first woman superintendent, first Black woman or first Latina superintendent. California has the most, with 11 leaders who fit one of those descriptions, while Texas has six.

In 2018, when the Aldine Independent School District, near Houston, was looking for a new superintendent, two of the board members wanted a Hispanic leader. With a 73% Hispanic population, Superintendent LaTonya Goffney, who is Black, understood why.

“I didn’t take it personally,” she said. “But I’ve been intentional about building relationships and connecting with the community.”

As another one of the 78 districts that has kept the same leader since the pandemic, more than neighboring districts to bounce back from academic declines. Too many inexperienced teachers was one reason, an . But the board gave Goffney more time and in 2022 through next year.

The district in state accountability rankings, but the number of F-rated schools has fallen from 21 since 2023, and the district’s overall score increased this year from .

Under Aldine, Texas, Superintendent LaTonya Goffney’s leadership, the number of F-rated schools has dropped from 21 to 2. (Aldine Independent School District)

Still, in a state where districts with low-performing schools are increasingly , Goffney feels constant pressure to show steady progress. As enrollment begins to decline in the state, the district sees competition not just from charter schools and a new private school choice program, but from neighboring districts trying to “cherry pick” Aldine’s students, she said.

“My focus, she said, “is on making sure that Aldine is the best choice.”

Report Shows Challenges of Being Superintendent in a ‘Politicized Education Space’

Hannah McClellan — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 12:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

The K-12 superintendency is more complex and demanding than ever before, according to a report published last week by , a bipartisan group of education leaders.

The , “The State of the Superintendency: Insights on how to navigate K-12 leadership in a challenging and politicized education space,” provides takeaways from six former superintendents – including Dr. Sharon Contreras, the superintendent of from 2016-2022. She made history as the first woman, first Latina, and second Black superintendent of Guilford County Schools.

Rising challenges are discouraging some leaders from going into the field, the report says, or compelling leaders to leave earlier than planned. Such challenges include increasingly polarized and politicized environments, the growing dependence on the social safety net schools provide, and changing technology, among others.

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“The current environment is very tumultuous for educators, particularly superintendents,” Contreras said. “It is tumultuous and stressful. I think the stress sometimes impedes innovation, and steals the joy that many once had in the profession.”

In North Carolina, as , 30 out of the state’s 115 school districts have new or are hiring new superintendents ahead of the 2023-24 school year. That means 26% of N.C. districts are facing turnover this school year – losing 193 years of experience in the superintendency, according to Jack Hoke, executive director of the .

The hiring process reflects persistent and racial disparities in K-12 leadership. Of the N.C. districts where a superintendent has been named, eight of 17 are women. Just four of 17 are people of color. And this year, none of the 115 school districts have a Latinx leader.

According to , 95% of superintendents agreed or strongly agreed that the job of the superintendent has gotten harder. Still, 85% agreed or strongly agreed that “considering everything, I am satisfied with my job as a superintendent.”

For many superintendents, perpetual and increasing stress contributes to turnover, according to the Chiefs of Change report. Superintendents are stressed about relationships with their school boards – heightened by the political environment – and frustrated by the increasing amount of time spent discussing so-called “culture wars,” rather than discussing how to better serve their students.

As EdNC previously reported, they are also worried about the expansion of school choice, the role of public education in democracy, the influence of social media on the public’s perception of public schools, inadequate school funding, and the educator pipeline.

“As the role of a superintendent has evolved, so too have the skills needed to effectively lead a school system,” the report says. “A superintendent must have a deep understanding of the education landscape; they also need business acumen, political savviness, and communications skills. Furthermore, they are stewards of taxpayer dollars, operating budgets that can be billions of dollars a year.”

Along with Contreras, the report features insight from five other former leaders, listed below. Chiefs for Change also spoke with A.J. Crabill, an author and school governance expert who currently serves as the Conservator of DeSoto Independent School District in Texas.

Dr. Katy Anthes, former commissioner of the Colorado Department of Education.
Dr. Chad Gestson, former superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School District (Arizona).
Dr. Monica Goldson, former CEO of Prince George’s County Public Schools (Maryland).
Dr. Michael Hinojosa, former superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District (Texas).
Dr. Barbara Jenkins, former superintendent of Orange County Public Schools (Florida).

The future of the superintendency

In 54 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, the school district is the . The superintendent is the CEO, the report says.

That reality means superintendents are involved in a lot more than the public usually expects, Goldson said.

“As superintendent, I led the county’s largest employer. I would love to say the job was only focused on academics and achievement, but that’s not the case,” she said. “My time was also spent on negotiations with labor unions, creating the first public-private partnership to address our aging infrastructure, and working on community challenges like food insecurity and violence.”

In order to better meet student needs today, the former superintendents said that “leaders who share the mission with stakeholders will increase the odds of success.” Though challenging, leaders said that fostering community engagement with parents, elected officials, the school board, and other stakeholders is necessary to serve all students well.

“Anything we can do to remove any and every barrier for kids to be connected and engaged,” Gestson said.

The superintendent can also be thought of as a “communicator in chief,” the report says. As such, superintendents should communicate early and often – acting as the biggest cheerleader for their district.

Superintendents must have “thick skin,” the report says, in order to not take it personally when people disagree with them. At the same time, according to Contreras, school districts should work to present a unified approach.

“Too often superintendents are out in front alone. The public then thinks that superintendents are responsible for everything,” Contreras said. “I think we have to share this space with our school boards, with other elected officials, faith, civic and business leaders – because so much of what happens in a school system is directly related to what is happening in the larger community.”

The former leaders gave several other pieces of advice on navigating the superintendency well:

To thrive, earn support from the board, staff, and community.
Take care of yourself or you can’t effectively care for others.
Build a capable team and strengthen your skills as an executive.
Lead with focus, desire, and courage.
Listen to others.
Establish a network of professional support.

“We can’t underestimate the value of coming together in support of one another,” Goldson said.

Self-proclaimed “student outcomes evangelist” A.J. Crabill also offered advice on how to build stronger, more positive relationships with school boards.

In North Carolina, this is particularly important as more school boards become partisan. that of the 83 school districts that had elections last November, 41 were partisan races – up from 10 districts in 2013. There are several bills seeking to further increase that number

First, Crabill said, superintendents should remember that the collective board is their supervisor, not each individual member. Some disagreement between board members and the superintendent is healthy, Crabill said.

Superintendents should also encourage their board to adopt an approach to governing that is more focused on student outcomes, he said. Crabill believes at least 50% of superintendent evaluations should focus on student outcome goals.

“It is a critical step in insulating superintendents from having to chase local politics and in helping them stay focused on the main reason for which school systems exist: to improve student outcomes,” he said. “Superintendents must be obsessed with improving the quality of instruction that students are experiencing every day.”

But doing so makes for an “incredibly challenging job,” Crabill said.

“They are constantly being asked to pour out their cup into others, and there is really no one in the organization who is typically making it their business to pour into the superintendent’s cup,” he said. “…So whatever school boards can put in place to help the work of the superintendent be less challenging and less fraught, less subject to burn out, accrues to the benefit of the students they serve.”

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Report: Half of Largest School Districts Changed Leaders Since Pandemic

Linda Jacobson — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 16:13:53 +0000

Half of the nation’s 500 largest school districts have changed superintendents or are in the midst of a transition, according to a report tracking leadership churn since the pandemic began.

Forty-seven of those districts have seen two or more leadership changes. The turnover has been particularly hard on women: Of the 94 female superintendents who left their positions, two-thirds were replaced by men, according to the report, released Monday from ILO Group, a consulting firm that focuses on female school leaders.

“The challenges women face to get the top job are not new; they’re the systems that have been in place for generations,” said Julia Rafal-Baer, the firm’s managing partner. “With all the churn in districts happening right now, one positive outcome could have been the addition of new perspectives, but instead we are seeing the opposite.”

This is the third time ILO has published findings on superintendent turnover, which it based on news reports and press releases. Superintendent transitions are up 46% in the 500 largest districts — 228 this fall, compared to 155 in 2018. Many of the changes followed intense political strife and debate over issues such as book banning, transgender student rights and confronting issues of historical discrimination in the classroom. When there’s sudden leadership turnover, “a reset button gets hit,” said Susan Enfield, superintendent of the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada.

“It’s sad, it’s wrong and it’s not good for kids,” she said.

While Enfield, former superintendent of the Highline schools in Washington, is among those who left for a new position this year, it was after 10 years in the same district, which allowed for a meaningful transition.

She wishes that board members set on ousting their leaders would “understand that the superintendent store shelves aren’t chock full” of candidates who are both eager and prepared for the job.

“You will find people to move into these jobs,” she said. “But will you find the right people?”

Some of the more dramatic departures over the past year have taken place in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has endorsed and replaced local board members. Moms for Liberty, a conservative advocacy organization, has also endorsed candidates in the state.

Superintendent is on his way out in Sarasota, Florida, after conservatives gained a majority in the November election. That’s despite the district’s from the state and .

Paulina Testerman, who founded Support Our Schools to counter Moms for Liberty’s influence in board elections, spoke in .

“There have been many decisions that you have made over these harrowing two years that I have personally disagreed with, but that is the definition of a good superintendent — someone who isn’t a lapdog,” she said at a Nov. 22 school board meeting. “You’re being forced out of your position … not because you were inept, but because you are not a bobble head who just nods his head.”

At the , Asplen pleaded with members to “do better by your next superintendent” and to keep them from being “dragged into the quagmire of the political arena.”

Bridget Ziegler, an incumbent on the board who won re-election in November — and also co-founded Moms for Liberty —only said during that he “needs improvement.” She did not elaborate.

While some turnover stemmed from culture war issues, parents in many communities mobilized after district leaders repeatedly pushed back reopening dates in 2021. Watching their children fall further behind in school, some left for private schools and charters, or chose to instruct their children at home.

When she looks at Sarasota, Rafal-Baer sees another issue affecting district leaders: Double standards for women. Before Asplen was hired, the board . They later when she said her husband and daughter wouldn’t relocate to the area with her if she was hired.

But when Rafal-Baer worked with Chiefs for Change, its Future Chiefs program supported four men between 2018 and 2020 who left family members at home when they relocated for jobs.

“Not one of them faced questions about their commitment, or whether they could handle the dual responsibilities of chief executive and faraway parent,” she wrote in an op-ed for ��.

Thirty percent of superintendents are women — only one percentage point higher than in 2018, ILO’s report shows. But there are regional differences. Almost half of district leaders in the Northeast are women, compared with less than a quarter in the Southeast.

The report calls for more transparency in candidate searches. Boards and search firms, the authors write, should be required to report the qualifications and demographic characteristics of candidates, the report said.

“The combination of leadership churn and lack of representation in education leadership puts kids’ futures at risk,” Rafal-Baer said. “At a time when women are seen as decisive and trustworthy in [a]crisis, shouldn’t we be pushing hard to elevate more women?”