The ‘Mockingbird’ Effect

What’s behind the paucity of Black superintendents, and what can be done to raise their representation in public school leadership?

I am Black and chose to leave the superintendency to pursue a career in higher education to research Black superintendents, the impact of Black school leadership, and issues of governance. Often I’m asked, “Why are there so few Black superintendents?”

As the co-director of the AASA/Howard University Urban Superintendent Academy and a senior associate for the executive search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, I have met many outstanding Black, Latinx and Asian superintendent candidates who have the skills, dispositions and experiences to be excellent superintendents. Yet, according to various surveys (including those conducted by AASA) and research studies, Black educators currently hold just 3.4 percent of the nation’s school superintendencies, while 2.5 percent are Latinx and 0.2 percent identify as Asian. This contrasts starkly to the 91.3 percent of superintendents who are white.

The decennial studies conducted by AASA show the needle has moved little over time. In 2000, 2.2 percent of superintendents were Black. In 2010, the figure was 2.0 percent.