School District Superintendent Turnover in Kentucky

Ω

There is little known about how superintendent turnover varies by rural status and region. Investigating such variations is especially important for Kentucky, as most of its schools and districts are rural and many are in the Appalachian region.

This REL Appalachia report, Superintendent Turnover in Kentucky, is the state’s first detailed description of superintendent turnover. It intends to help policymakers and other leaders better understand turnover so that they can develop new programs to prepare, recruit, and retain superintendents. The report describes superintendent turnover statewide, by rural status, and by Appalachian and non-Appalachian region over 1998/99–2007-08 and also looks at how turnover varies by 2007/08 school district characteristics.

Key findings include:

• Kentucky school districts averaged one superintendent turnover during 1998/99–2007/08.

• Average superintendent turnover rates in rural and nonrural school districts over 1998/99–2007/08 were within one-tenth of a point of each other.

• Average superintendent turnover rates in Appalachian school districts and non-Appalachian school districts over 1998/99–2007/08 were within one-tenth of a point of each other.

• Statewide, superintendent turnover varied with school districts’ demographic, fiscal, and achievement characteristics. However, such differences did not show patterns strong or consistent enough to suggest associations between these characteristics and superintendent turnover.

• In both rural and nonrural school districts and in both Appalachian and non-Appalachian school districts, superintendent turnover varied with demographic, fiscal, and achievement characteristics. However, these variations did not show patterns strong or consistent enough to suggest systematic differences between rural and nonrural school districts or between Appalachian and non-Appalachian school districts.