Being superintendent of a public school system is one of the hardest jobs in America. One hundred of the 500 largest school districts in the country turned over superintendents in the past year, amid declining student achievement.
This kind of churn begs the question: Do school boards understand what a superintendent must do to drive and achieve system change? Superintendents (and for that matter teachers) are being expected to deliver unprecedented results within school systems not designed to achieve them. Adding new programs and expectations to today’s outdated administrative structure is like installing new apps on an old computer operating system — the apps don’t work right or the device crashes.
The results are not surprising. The most recent Nation’s Report Card shows that 64 to 74 percent of all 4th and 8th grade students perform below “proficient” in reading and math. Similar results date back to 2003. An operating system update is essential to achieving the results that communities desire.
Related: Become a lifelong learner. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive our comprehensive reporting directly in your inbox.
Superintendents must lead and manage six elements to achieve significantly better student, staff and system outcomes: organizational culture, people, operating standards, functions, services and decision structures.
Organizational Culture. A core component of a culture that leads to better outcomes is what Dr. Niki Elliott describes as an environment in which professionals and caregivers are deeply rooted in an awareness of and compassion for children who learn differently or have been impacted by trauma or family disruption.
To create such an environment, leaders need data to help identify and monitor areas in which the current culture inhibits student performance.
People. A better operating system is impossible if teachers and staff aren’t given the training and resources to run it. A better system will require some staff reorganization efforts, including a hard look at the workloads in schools, central offices and partner organizations. It could also require evaluating which tasks and initiatives can be enhanced via automation or streamlined with artificial intelligence.
As a start, all staff need up-to-date training in how the brain is expanded and developed through experiences and relationships. Staff should also learn how to model strategies for dealing with stress and engaging socially with greater tolerance. Such understandings are critical to creating learning environments that enhance student cognition and support productive adult working relationships.
Operating Standards. Having every school, central office and partner organization on the same page in terms of expectations, offerings, practices, processes and training is key and will help school system leaders respond to stakeholder needs in a timely, informed and systemic manner, restoring trust.
School systems will have to work to keep these standards current. Doing so will require a deeper understanding of how students use existing systems and may also require investing in AI literacy across K-12 education — especially to personalize student learning to enhance workforce preparation.
Functions. Leaders need timely, in-depth insights about system performance, including data about the effectiveness of psychological and physical safety protocols and the success of knowledge management, process management and technology implementations and usage. It is also imperative that leaders understand the degree to which federal, state and board policies enhance or constrain their ability to meet their goals and that they advocate for more flexibility.
Services. Today, many central offices do not provide a common set of services to support the programs that shape student and teacher experiences, such as project management, budget planning, communications, knowledge capture and retention and program performance monitoring.
This omission limits systems’ ability to make improvements for students during the school year.
We can do better.
Decision structures. We need new norms around decision-making and decision structures. Every decision in each system should be mapped so that it is clear how and when it is supposed to be made, who is supposed to be involved and what change management, if any, is needed.
Too often, decisions get made in a multitude of unaligned ways that do not build constituencies to support necessary changes.
The absence of clear decision structures often results in delays, inconsistency and frustration, eroding trust.
Related: New superintendents need ‘a fighting chance for success’
A full system overhaul addressing these six elements may seem ambitious, but a phased approach — beginning with momentum-building changes — can bring rapid results. Systems can and should create education plans as long-range as their facilities master plans.
Each plan should be a living document that addresses an educational vision for the school system and the gaps that need to be closed to achieve it.
That vision needs to be aligned with the district’s core funding mechanism and with a timetable that acknowledges it will take longer than any one superintendent’s or board’s tenure.
This approach should provide a foundational context that prevents having to start all over again when a strategic plan expires or when a new superintendent is hired.
With these six elements and broad community support, we can modernize schools’ operating systems, keep students at the center of every decision and have a real shot at reducing the disturbing churn not only of K-12 leadership but also of teachers and staff throughout the systems.
Charles E. Wright Jr. is managing director of Wright Associates and author of “The Education Imperative.” He was previously deputy superintendent for Seattle Public Schools.
Contact the opinion editor at [email protected].
This story about superintendent turnover was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.
