Superintendent turnover in the nation's 500 largest school districts fell to its lowest level since before the pandemic

ILO Group's Superintendent Research Project Finds

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2025-26, 87 of the nation's 500 largest school districts (17.4%) changed superintendents, the lowest annual turnover ILO Group has recorded since before the pandemic and returning to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, the pandemic has taken a meaningful toll on leadership in the top 500 districts: only 78 leaders who were in their seats in March of 2020 remain in their position today.

At the same time, women now hold 34% of superintendencies in the top 500 districts, up from 33.2% in last year's survey.  The number of women leading the country's largest districts has now grown or held steady every year since 2020.  At the current pace of progress, women would not reach parity in Top 500 superintendent roles until 2048.

These are the major findings of the 2026 update of the Superintendent Research Project, the only publicly available database and analysis of who is leading the nation's largest districts, from ILO Group, a women-owned, women-led national education strategy and policy firm.

"Turnover may finally be moving back toward pre-pandemic levels, but the pandemic's impact on school system leadership is unmistakable," said Dr. Julia Rafal-Baer, Co-Founder and CEO of ILO Group. "Of the 500 superintendents leading these districts when schools closed, just 78 are still leading the same systems today. That's a glaring fact because leadership change can interrupt strategy, reset priorities and force districts to start over before the work has time to produce results. The lesson is not that leadership should never change. It is that sustained progress requires enough time to move from a plan, to implementation, to results. And then when a transition does happen, districts have to protect the work through the handoff."

This year's update also explores how leadership is changing: when in a superintendent's tenure departures are occurring, whether districts are preserving continuity through internal and permanent handoffs, how women and men are reaching the top job, where churn is concentrated geographically, and how leadership changes at state education agencies could reshape the landscape ahead. Click here for the full analysis.

Key findings in this year's update include:

• Turnover fell to its lowest level since before the pandemic. 87 of the 500 largest districts (17.4%) changed superintendents in 2025-26. In each of the five years since pandemic-driven school closures, turnover ran at or above 20%. Before the pandemic, national estimates generally put annual superintendent turnover at about 14% to 16%.
  • Had turnover held steady this past year, these 500 districts would have seen 106 changes instead of the 87 documented.
• Since March 13, 2020, these 500 districts have changed superintendents 745 times and only 78 have not changed at all. Those 78 districts enroll 2.5 million students, 12% of all students in these 500 districts.
  • Their 78 superintendents have a median of 9.2 years in their current districts, the longest tenures in the data. This is more than twice the length of the three-to four-year contract term held by most superintendents nationally.
  • 202 districts (40.4%) have changed leaders twice or more, and those districts enroll 9.7 million students, close to half of all students in these 500 districts. Another 32 districts (6.4%) have been through four or more; those districts enroll nearly 2 million students.
• Women hold 170 of the 500 superintendencies (34%), up from 33.2% in ILO Group's September 2025 update. 24 of this year's 71 new permanent hires were women (34%), matching the share women already hold.
  • Women are expected to reach gender parity for superintendent roles in the Top 500 largest districts in 2048.
  • Internal promotion is still the most common route for women. 96 of the 170 women (56%) already worked in the district before getting the top job, compared with 166 of the 330 men (50%).
  • Women are more likely than men to reach the job through an interim appointment. Among leaders promoted from inside, 49 of the 96 women (51%) served as interim first, compared with 72 of the 166 men (43%). 22 of the 500 districts are currently led by an interim, and women hold 12 of those seats (55%).
  • 67 of the 500 leaders are explicitly recorded as "the first" for their district, and 51 of them are women, which is 30% of all the women leading within the top 500 largest districts. 42 of the 51 started after March 13, 2020.
  • Women-led shares vary by region, with the Southeast 14 points below the next-lowest region.
    • Northeast, 15 of 37 districts (41%)
    • Midwest, 25 of 65 districts (38%)
    • West, 59 of 151 districts (39%)
    • Southeast, 35 of 150 districts (23%)
    • Southwest, 36 of 97 districts (37%)
• Departures moved to the two ends of the tenure range. Relative to pre-pandemic levels, early career (less than two years in the role)  and late career (six or more years in the role) exits have both grown as a share of departures, while mid-career exits have decreased.

• The typical contract window of 3 to 4 years into a leader's tenure is actually where departures fell furthest.
  • 6.4% (6 of 94) leaders who left in the past year had served between three and four years, down from 10.1% (7 of 69) before the pandemic.
  • 18.1% (17 of 94) of leaders who left in the past year had served between four and six years, down from 26.1% (18 of 69) before the pandemic.
• Continuity is not the same as permanence, and a planned handoff is what carries the work across a change.
  • Of the 32 superintendents  with six or more years who left this year:
    • 21 of 32 (66%) handed off directly to a permanent successor with no interim in between.
    • 20 of 32 (63%) of the successors came from inside the district.
  • Of the total 94 superintendent changes from the past year:
    • 53 of 94 (56%) handed off directly to a permanent successor with no interim in between.
    • 55 of 94 (59%) of the successors came from inside the district.
  • 23 interim appointments were made this year. From the past year, 17 of the 18 departures under one year were interims completing a stint.
  • 100 of the 201 permanent leaders hired between July 2020 and July 2022 have left. Half of the people hired to run pandemic recovery are no longer in the seat.
• Among states with 10 or more districts in the Top 500, the states that saw the highest turnover in District leadership since March of 2020 include:

1. 1. North Carolina
   2. Missouri
   3. Ohio
   4. Arizona
   5. South Carolina

State Leadership:

• 27 of the 51 state education chiefs (53%) are women, compared with the 34% of these 500 districts that are led by women.
• 36 states hold gubernatorial elections in November and half of those seats are open. Most are open because the governor is term-limited. 44 of the 51 state education agencies, counting the District of Columbia, have changed chiefs at least once since March 13, 2020. Ten have changed since July 2025.
  • Ohio has replaced its state education chief four times in six years, more than any other state in that group. Ohio's next governor will appoint the next chief.
  • Only 7 of the 51 have kept the same chief since before the pandemic.
    • Alabama
    • California*
    • Georgia**
    • Maine
    • Rhode Island
    • Texas
    • Washington

* California's superintendent is term-limited and a general election takes place in November 2026.

** Georgia's incumbent faces a contested general election in November 2026.

• ILO Group's state superintendent analysis, updated for 2026, applies the same pathway measures used for the 500 largest districts. 18  of the 51 (35%) of sitting state education chiefs served in a district leadership role immediately before taking the state job, and 6 of the 51 (12%) did so at one of the 500 largest districts.
  • 8  of the 51 (16%) were promoted from inside the agency they now run, and 43 of the 51 (84%) came from outside. The district split is 262 internal (52%) and 238 external (48%).
  • 10 of the 51 (20%) currently serve as the interim or served as interim before getting the job permanently. In the district data, 143 leaders (29%) currently serve as interim or first entered the seat as interim.
  • 22 of the 51 (43%) hold a doctorate. Among these 500 districts, 360 leaders (72%) do, including 129 of the 170 women (76%) and 231 of the 330 men (70%).

ILO Group launched the Superintendent Research Project in 2021 to fill a decades-long gap in national data on superintendent turnover and leadership trends. The dataset is updated annually and provides districts, states, and policymakers with independent, verifiable insights into who is leading America's largest school systems, how they got there, and how long they stay.

The 500 districts enroll 20.4 million students, roughly two in five U.S. public school students, per ILO Group analysis of NCES Common Core of Data, Fall 2024. The 2025-26 analysis year runs July 2, 2025 through July 1, 2026, so a summer transition is counted in the school year it begins. A transition is counted when a new person takes the seat, including interim appointments. Leadership data was collected and verified as of July 1, 2026.

Explore the full dataset at https://www.ilogroup.com/the-superintendent-research-project/

About ILO Group

ILO Group was built on a simple, shared mission: to roll up our sleeves and do whatever it takes to support K-12 system leaders' big bets – from continuing to respond to student needs exacerbated by the pandemic to supporting all students thriving as we look ahead.

A proudly women-owned, women-led education strategy and policy firm, ILO Group, stands for In the Life Of. We work side-by-side with the country's leading educators, experts, and government partners to help solve the toughest challenges facing school systems and leaders today because we've been in their shoes. With decades of collective experience, our seasoned team of consultants has supported many of the nation's largest and highest-profile school systems and education-focused organizations.

Our clients span school districts, state education agencies and other government agencies, nonprofits, philanthropy, start ups, civic-minded businesses, and beyond. They all share one thing in common: an unwavering commitment to supporting our nation's students and young people. Through our work, we have supported leaders serving 1 in 2 students in America.

About Dr. Julia Rafal-Baer

Dr. Julia Rafal-Baer is the Co-Founder and CEO of ILO Group. She is also the founder of Women Leading Ed, the largest national nonprofit network of women in education leadership, and the co-founder and a partner of The Forum for Educational Leadership. Dr. Rafal-Baer serves on the National Assessment Governing Board and is a former assistant commissioner at the New York State Education Department. A former special education teacher, she holds a Master of Philosophy in Education Research and a Ph.D. focused on comparative education policy from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Marshall Scholar.

Media Inquiries:

media@ilogroup.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/superintendent-turnover-in-the-nations-500-largest-school-districts-fell-to-its-lowest-level-since-before-the-pandemic-302875991.html

SOURCE ILO Group