New research finds persistent turnover, gender gaps, racial disparities among leadership in top 500 districts

Leadership turnover remained high at the nation's 500 largest school districts in 2024, while the gender gap persists, and new data show significant disparities in racial representation in the role of superintendent, according to a new report from ILO Group, a women-founded national education strategy and policy firm.

The 2024 update of ILO's Superintendent Research Project found that leadership changes occurred at 100 of the top 500 largest school districts over the past year. Women hold 30.4% of superintendencies, despite occupying nearly 8 in 10 teaching positions and more than half of principalships, an identical proportion to last year.

ILO Group researchers included race and ethnicity data for the first time in this year's study, finding that 200 (40%) of the top 500 superintendencies are held by leaders of color, while 72 of them are women of color, which is 14% of all district superintendents.  

Policy and practice recommendations
In response to the research, Women Leading Ed released its playbook of policies and practices to close the gender gap in education leadership, including:

• Create and promote intentional support systems to prepare women for leadership roles
• Re-balance the hiring process through requirements and the promotion of best practices
• Provide family and wellbeing supports
• Set public goals for female leadership and increase transparency
• Ensure financial fairness

See the research data and analysis on the ILO Group website.