@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1585,
title = "Superintendent (In)Stability and Student Achievement in the United States",
author = "Rachel S. White",
number = "1585",
year = "2026",
month = "September",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1585",
abstract = {Superintendents shape conditions for teaching and learning, yet the limited studies of their impact—concentrated in a few states and focused on superintendent turnover—find small or null effects on student achievement. Using more than 37,000 district-year records from national superintendents and student achievement datasets, and drawing on organizational learning and managerial succession theories, I reframe superintendent influence as a district’s cumulative leadership stability rather than a discrete turnover event. I find that districts with more instability had lower achievement, and the penalty grew with each additional departure. The penalty was larger when departures were contentious and concentrated in the highest-poverty districts. A within-district analysis of discrete turnover events yielded no reliable effects, underscoring that measurement shapes whether superintendents appear to matter.},
}