How stressed are school superintendents? What are the reasons for their stress? To find out, authors surveyed 150 superintendents in American School District Panel member districts. In spring 2023, 79 percent of superintendents reported that their jobs were "often" or "always" stressful. Superintendents most commonly cited the…

This article is based on results from "The American Superintendent 2020 Decennial Study" (Tienken, 2021) that reported the survey results of 1218 of America's seated superintendents. Specifically, for this article, we pull from the data on equity, community relations, and social media (Horsford, Mountford, and Richardson, 2021). This…

Equitable representation within a school occurs when the principals, teachers, or other school-based leaders reflect the racial and cultural diversity of the local communities they serve. When students of color, who have historically been underestimated and underserved in our nation's schools, see themselves in the teachers and leaders at their…

While recovering from the Civil War in 1860s, Kansas City acquired the site of the first bridge over the Missouri River, the Hannibal Bridge, which was completed in 1869. In doing so, Kansas City beat out competing cities like Leavenworth, Kansas; Atchison, Kansas; and St. Joseph, Missouri. This led to rapid population increases from 4,418 in…

The 2023-2024 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the twelfth consecutive edition of this report. The 2023-2024 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country.…

Florida's Banyan School District attempts to implement culturally responsive teaching (CRt) in the midst of critical race theory (CRT) challenges. This case illustrates how negotiations among the superintendent and stakeholders are multifaceted and fraught with the dynamics of political pressures, funding issues, personal beliefs, professional…

Phi Delta Kappa's CEO, Joshua Starr, points out that while school boards may tell their newly hired superintendents to be bold, visionary leaders, the job tends to include built-in incentives -- such as a pension system that rewards longevity -- to play it safe. If district leaders aim to challenge longstanding patterns of inequity in their local…

This essay examines the tension between rigor and relevance in a newly designed EdD program in School System Leadership in a Research 1 institution. After a three-year redesign of this program that prepares students to become superintendents, our faculty continue to wrestle with questions around how to make methodology coursework meaningful,…

The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. These polls are designed to provide a snapshot about how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans' highly decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year, the Cowen Institute asks some new questions about the most…

This paper includes data related to the number and size of school districts and superintendent salaries in the state of Oklahoma. It is intended to encourage dialogue among elected state leaders and citizens about the need to consider cost savings that could result in badly needed additional funding being directed to classrooms across the state…

A formal partnership between a state-level umbrella association of educational administrators and one of its constituent associations, the association of gifted education administrators, has resulted in successful legislative and policy advocacy for gifted education. The formal partnership encouraged leaders of the gifted education professional…

The 2022-2023 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the ninth consecutive edition of this study. The 2022-2023 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country.…

In this article, we explore political race theory as a framework for building coalitions between Black and Brown communities as part of a shared struggle for educational justice and community power amid neoliberal reform. Inspired by the Black and Brown alliances for economic justice of the 1960s and 1970s and informed by previous scholarship on…

Principals are tasked with being the instructional leaders in their schools--developing teacher's abilities through formal and informal classroom observations and feedback. But how can school districts ensure that principals have the skills they need to fulfill this crucial role? In Clarke County School District in Georgia, central-office leaders…

Major philanthropic initiatives that incorporate features of venture-capital practices have become increasingly prominent, particularly in K-12 public education. In this study, we provide empirical evidence on the reach, character, and impact of the Broad Superintendents Academy, a prominent and controversial venture-philanthropic initiative…