During the 2025–26 academic year, just 17.4 percent of the country’s 500 largest school districts experienced superintendent turnover, the lowest level observed by the ILO Group since before the pandemic, according to an analysis on the subject.
Published in September by the education strategy and policy firm, this finding marks a return to pre-pandemic trends. In the five years since the public health crisis disrupted education, superintendent turnover happened at or above a rate of 20 percent compared to estimates between 14 and 16 percent prior.
“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,” the group determined. The 78 superintendents had been in their districts a median of 9.2 years, “the longest tenures in the data,” the analysis states. “This is more than twice the length of the three- to four-year contract term held by most superintendents nationally.”
Overall, since March 2020, superintendents changed in the 500 districts a total of 745 times, with 40.4 percent (202 districts) having a leadership transition on two or more occasions (impacting 9.7 million students) and 6.4 percent experiencing turnover four or more times (affecting almost 2 million students).
“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,” ILO Group found. “The typical contract window of three to four years into a leader’s tenure is actually where departures fell furthest.”
Among the 94 superintendent changes that occurred in the last year, 56 percent were succeeded by a permanent replacement with no interim in between and 59 percent of successors were selected from within the district.
By gender, women held 34 percent of superintendent seats as of July 2026 — up from 33.2 percent in July 2025 and 27.8 percent in July 2018 — and men accounted for 66 percent of individuals in the position. Overall, as of summer 2026 “women account for 40 percent (38 of 94) of new superintendent appointments within the past year,” ILO Group said.
By 2048, women are projected to hold the role at an equal rate to their male peers. Internal promotions are the most common way women reach the job. Additionally, “women are more likely than men to reach the job through an interim appointment.”
Nationally, seven of 50 states, including California, have kept the same state superintendent since March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. However, the Golden State will elect a new state superintendent of public education in November. Compared to district leadership (34 percent), 53 percent of state education chiefs are women.
