School & District Management

Study: Urban School Chiefs’ Tenure Is 4.6 Years

By Rhea R. Borja — February 06, 2002 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Urban school superintendents stay in their jobs an average of 4.6 years, much longer than the 2.5 years widely cited by the education community, concludes a report released last week by the National School Boards Association.

Read the NSBA superintendent survey (requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader) and the Council of Great City Schools’ report on superintendent characteristics.

“The urban school superintendent job is more stable than previously thought,” said Anne L. Bryant, the executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based NSBA. “But 4.6 years isn’t perfect. We all want strong leadership over a longer period of time.”

The NSBA study calculated average tenure by surveying the immediate past superintendents in the nation’s 50 largest cities as of June 2000. And the average stay rose slightly to five years when looking at immediate past superintendents in 77 urban school districts that are members of the NSBA’s Council of Urban Boards of Education. Those districts range in size from Ohio’s 10,400-student Springfield city system to New York City’s 1.1 million-student district.

In comparison to the NSBA’s findings, a recent study by the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools reinforces the idea that urban superintendents do not stay in one job much longer than a few years. Using data collected in June 2001 and released in October, the council report showed that current superintendents in the group’s 56 districts had been on the job 2.5 years on average, a slight increase from 2.3 years in 1999.

But Ms. Bryant said those findings don’t give a complete view of superintendent tenure.

“You have to look at the bigger picture, at the beginning and the end,” she said. “This necessitates going one step back. Looking at current superintendents isn’t accurate, because you don’t know how long they will be in there.” Council of the Great City Schools officials were unavailable to respond to Ms. Bryant’s comments about their study.

Some schools chiefs have survived much longer than the average, according to the NSBA report, which found 13 urban superintendents who had served more than seven years, and five who had been in their positions for more than a decade.

Chronic Turnover

Still, urban districts from Los Angeles to Philadelphia have experienced superintendent turnover in recent years. Now, only one of the nation’s five largest urban school districts—the Broward County, Fla., public schools—is being run by a leader with more than two years on the job.

But some veteran superintendents say school leaders can increase their chances of staying longer on the job.

Linda Murray, who leads the 34,000-student San Jose school district in California, said the key to surviving in the urban-superintendent hot seat is to listen to parents and community members, get school board support, and build a good administrative staff.

Such skills have helped her turn around a district once beleaguered by teacher strikes, financial problems, and court- ordered desegregation.

Ms. Murray, who has run the district for almost 10 years, said she and her staff annually survey parents, teachers, and students; track and publicize student progress; and involve local business and community leaders in district decisions.

Ms. Murray also meets with the president of the local teachers’ union for three hours every week.

“If you do [these things] long enough, that sense of stability and purpose translates into public confidence in our schools,” she said.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the February 06, 2002 edition of Education Week as Study: Urban School Chiefs’ Tenure Is 4.6 Years

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management What We Know About How ICE Raids Disrupt Student Learning
Past and present research studies found broad implications of immigration enforcement on students' school attendance.
5 min read
Jennifer Hosler, center, a pastor and parent of a child who attends Mundo Verde Public Charter School, leads parents and staff in a chant of solidarity as they keep watch for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in front of the school, amid fears of impending arrests at schools, Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
Jennifer Hosler, center, a pastor and parent of a child who attends Mundo Verde Public Charter School, leads parents and staff in a chant of solidarity as they keep watch for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in front of the school, amid fears of impending arrests at schools, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. A new study found that immigration raids lead to increases in student absences, interrupting student learning.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
School & District Management Opinion What School Leaders Can Learn From ‘How to Train Your Dragon’
Many educators feel out of sync with their leadership. This kids’ movie imagines a new way forward.
Kevin Wood
3 min read
What the new How to Train Your Dragon movie can remind us about leadership, schooling, and systems. "Leadership born in uncertainty, having the courage to imagine new ways
forward, and about the quiet strength it takes to care for what others fear."
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management How Top Principals Are Tackling Teacher Morale and Other Challenges
Finalists for the National Principal of the Year Award share how they work to be strong instructional leaders for their schools.
Principals Lead
Clockwise from upper left: Damon Lewis, the principal of Ponus Ridge STEAM Academy; Miguel Salazar, the principal of Sundown Middle School; Sherilynn Boehlert, the principal of Schoenbar Middle School; Tony Cattani, the principal of Lenape High School; Terita Walker, the principal of East High School; and Shauna Haney, principal of Ogden High School. These are the finalists for the 2025-26 National High School and Middle School Principals of the Year awards.
School & District Management Opinion What Principals Can Learn From Pope Leo XIV's Leadership Approach
Education leaders are under pressure to bring about positive results. Here are effective ways to go about it.
4 min read
Screenshot 2025 06 18 at 10.40.02 AM
Canva