Women are slowly being hired to fill a district's top role more often than last year, the ILO Group learned.
A new study on superintendents in the nation's 500 largest school districts found that turnover in the leadership position is at an all-time high since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. But not all is lost, researchers learned more and more women are working in the roles than before.
In its latest assessment of superintendents, research organization ILO Group found that one in five districts experienced at least one leadership change in the past year, the group announced Monday. The low retention rate was concurrent with the pandemic as academia faced drastic changes to keep up with students' education in a safe manner, and political pressure from lawmakers and the community to retool how and what students are taught.
"The role of superintendent is one of the most influential in public education and yet data show that districts and states continue to face destabilizing turnover," Julia Rafal-Baer, cofounder and CEO of ILO Group, said.
Some of the longest-tenured administrators the group included in its count is V. Sue Cleveland, who has led Rio Rancho Public Schools since the district's July 1994 creation. In 2022, she told the Santa Fe New Mexican, a local newspaper, that superintendents need to serve three years in the role at a minimum to be culturally and emotionally invested in a district. Cleveland's district is the 455th largest in the nation with 17,524 students.
"Without that, it's hard to make change, and if you are not making change, you just keep this process of turning over superintendents year after year," she told the paper.
That can be an issue for the nation's 10 largest districts as the longest tenured administrator, Jose L. Dotres of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, has served in the role since February 2022. The top 10 districts serve a total of 3.7 million students.
Out of all 500 largest districts, 86 hired superintendents this year, according to the data.
Turnover isn't just an issue for the administrators. The National Education Association, the largest educators union in the nation, reported in July that burnout and low wages were exacerbated by the pandemic. Fewer teachers are wanting to leave their jobs, but those that stay have growing worries about their wellbeing. The NEA said that 16% of 1,419 kindergarten to high school teachers sought to leave their jobs by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
The ILO Group noted it is focused on tabulating how superintendents move, as no formal dataset exists on the profession's retention rate by district and demographics. A caveat in the dataset is that some of the data relies on how researchers interpret it, such as a superintendent's gender.
"By uncovering patterns in how leaders advance, the challenges they encounter, and the supports that enable their success, this work aims to provide actionable insights," according to ILO Group. "Ultimately, the findings can help districts and communities ensure a strong, effective pool of candidates for these critical leadership positions."
When it comes to the hiring practices of school districts, ILO Group found a near 50-50 split on if superintendents were promoted internally, or hired from elsewhere between July 2018 and July 2025. Overall, men benefited from both options as they made up 63% of internal hires and 71% of external hires.
However, ILO Group learned women are more likely than their male counterparts to be promoted to a permanent superintendent after serving in an interim or deputy superintendent role from July 2018 to July 2025.
Women are, overall, gaining ground as superintendents with 33.2% of all leaders being women as of July 2025, up from 30.4% in July 2024.
The Superintendent Lab had similar findings in its review of superintendents between the 2019 and 2025 school years. Researchers found that in 39 states, the percentage of women serving as a public school superintendent has increased. Idaho had the largest increase of 14.5%, while Nevada experienced an 11.8% decrease.
The data also revealed that 77.36% of public school districts in Alaska, the highest in the nation, experienced turnover compared to 45.91% in North Dakota.
Rachel S. White, a University of Texas at Austin professor runs the site and has conducted studies with other educators over the years. The lab has data from more than 12,500 superintendents across the nation.
Hawaii and the District of Columbia are excluded from the Superintendent Lab due to having only one superintendent for the regions, which are Keith Hayashi and Lewis Ferebee, respectively. Both governments have the territory or state superintendent dually serve as superintendent of their public schools. They both appoint deputies to oversee certain regions.
"This year's findings make clear that the leadership churn we once considered temporary is now the new normal, and it is straining districts at the very moment students need steady, effective leadership the most," Rafal-Baer said.