New job? Resignation? Termination? What is the biggest reason for the recent superintendent turnover? And how often are districts promoting new leaders from within?
The superintendent is “the most important individual in setting district policy,” according to district data tracker, Burbio, which has zeroed in on the main reasons district leaders are moving on. One finding: retirement is much more likely than termination. Here is what the numbers show for 300 positions:
- Retirement: 49.8%
- Other job: 26.3%
- Resignation/leave: 15.7%
- Termination: 5.3%
- Contract not renewed: 2.8%
Burbio’s superintendent turnover tracker also examines where districts find their next full-time leaders. Among 400 open posts, nearly two-thirds hired an external candidate while the remaining one-third promoted from within.
Strategic plans and mental health
A strategic plan is often one of superintendents’ biggest achievements. In the years since the pandemic, mental health and social-emotional learning have become pillars in many of these plans.
Burbio tracks mental health-related keywords in strategic plans enacted from 2022-2024 in districts covering 70% of the K12 student population.
Social-emotional learning, despite some pushback against the concept, remains the most popular mental-health-related keyword, even more common than the phrase “mental health.” SEL appears in 63% of strategic plans. Mental health shows up in a little less than half of the documents.
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Here is how prevalent other mental-health-related keywords are:
- Wellness: 40%
- Multi-Tiered System of Support: 38.5%
- Counseling: 35.1%
- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: 24.8%
- Bullying: 23%
- Social worker: 20.9%
- Whole child: 20.9%
- School psychologist: 11.1%
- Trauma-informed practice: 8%
- Anxiety: 7.9%
- Depression: 5.1%
