High-quality leadership pipeline programs can supply exactly these kinds of professionals. 

In California’s Long Beach Unified School District, that fact is being proven every day. 

What started as a single program to support has grown over 17 years into a . It now features 16 certified programs, each with their own curricula, series of hands-on learning experiences and coaching. Interested personnel , according to their . For example, the Future Administrators Program is designed for proven teacher-leaders who wish to prepare themselves for a job as an assistant principal or similar leadership position. The Exploring District Leadership Program develops sitting principals who are interested in working in the central office.

More than 200 district employees are on these pathways, rising from teacher leaders to aspiring central office administrators. Another 100 nonteaching personnel are pursuing teacher certifications, providing the district with a new and diverse candidate pool. 

Fully 100% of principal and assistant principal vacancies are filled from the pool of program participants, on average about seven to 10 positions a year.  On the district level, 88% of current certified directors went through the Exploring Leadership pipeline. 

To further improve leadership capacity in the central office, the district has who report to the chief academic officer, chief business and financial officers, and deputy and assistant superintendents. What started as a way to hear how these top managers experience the system and its leadership has evolved into an ongoing forum where programs and priorities are discussed in detail and these leaders are given new management responsibilities. Providing these 鈥渟tretch鈥� assignments helps them grow professionally and more effectively delegates the workload of Long Beach鈥檚 chiefs and assistant superintendents. As a result, the district has aspiring leaders who are now better prepared for their next steps and top officials who are more resilient, less burned out and better able to focus on the biggest priorities. 

This pipeline has created in the administrative ranks, increased the percentage of leaders of color and bolstered the presence of women among the district鈥檚 highest positions. That would not have been possible without taking a close look at historical bias within the district鈥檚 hiring and promotion policies, as well as in talent identification and promotion. After all, even the best developed and supported aspiring leaders cannot ascend a career ladder filled with that hold back women and educators of color.  

In an era of generational challenges to student success, public schools, districts and state agencies are experiencing a leadership brain drain. Too many of the best leaders are and doors. More than 1 in 5 superintendents left their jobs in the nation鈥檚 500 largest school districts last school year, according to the ILO Group’s . Between 2019 and 2023, the superintendent turnover rate in these districts grew by a stunning 50%. It鈥檚 a widely shared problem, as both rural and urban districts with leadership turnover.  

Making a bad trend worse is the underrepresentation of women in district leadership. Though women comprise nearly 80% of public school teachers and more than half of school leaders, just 30% of district superintendents are female, and even fewer are women of color. Bias in hiring and promotion policies and procedures thwart the rise of talented and qualified women to the superintendency at a moment when their expertise is most needed.

The past five years have seen unprecedented challenges for schools and students. From interrupted learning to behavioral health needs, education leaders are being tested mightily. shows that principals are the second largest in-school influence on student learning. Similarly, stability in leadership and school district success , according to peer-reviewed research. Continuity in school and district leadership is vital even in the best of circumstances; in times of crisis 鈥� or crises, like today 鈥� great leadership is the difference between success and failure. 

Long Beach’s experience shows that taking on the leadership challenge is possible, but it means creating systems that identify, prepare and support current and future leaders. Building such pipelines also means creating and promoting systems to identify and prepare aspiring leaders 鈥� especially . These pipelines can take the form of traditional leadership programs but are most effective when coupled with coaching, sponsorship and networking experiences that are focused on advancing the professional practice of those in the programs. 

When initiatives like this exist, school and district leaders have the skills and support to succeed and stay in their positions. They feel that their district has invested in them as professionals and, in turn, feel more invested in the district’s long-term success. The result: less turnover, more growth and, ultimately, better outcomes for students.

鈥淚 had them when they were infants,鈥� said Barraza, who has worked for the Long Beach-based Educare since 2017. Compared to the other state-funded program she used to work for, Educare fosters more trusting relationships with parents. 鈥淭hey become like a family.鈥�

A modern facility tucked into a residential neighborhood, the program is part of a network of 25 Educare centers nationwide. In a field with high turnover, Educare is known for keeping children with the same teacher until age 3. Other features 鈥� small class sizes, a full-day schedule and strong family support 鈥� further set the model apart from most early-childhood centers serving young children from poor families.

Those elements pay off once children enter school, according to who spent their early years in the program entered kindergarten on pace academically with students from more affluent families, the study found.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 their elementary school experience that was different; their early-childhood experience was different,鈥� said Diane Horm, director of the Early Childhood Education Institute at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa and part of a nationwide network of researchers evaluating Educare. 鈥淭here was no evidence of fade out and no evidence of catch up.鈥�

鈥楢 strong model鈥�

Even the best preschool programs have faced a common criticism: Gains made by participants frequently during the early grades. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly used such results to argue for budget cuts to

The Educare results, Horm said, suggest that the achievement gap can be avoided if children start preschool before age 2.

The size of the Tulsa study sample wasn鈥檛 large 鈥� just 75 children 鈥� but other researchers say it鈥檚 an important contribution to the early education field. 

鈥淵ou have a strong model [over] multiple years and strong persistent outcomes,鈥� Steve Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, said about the Tulsa study. 

A previous , focused on the first Educare center in Chicago, showed that former students continued to perform well in elementary school and that parents stayed engaged in their children鈥檚 education. But the Tulsa study is considered more rigorous because Horm compared the students鈥� achievement to those who didn鈥檛 attend Educare.

The study鈥檚 results, experts say, support the argument for more federal spending on high-quality programs for infants and toddlers, especially since now provide some funding for pre-K.

鈥淚f the states are going to put money into pre-K, maybe a better use of federal resources is for birth to 3,鈥� said Linda Smith, director of the Early Childhood Development Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank. 

Educare, which Horm called an 鈥渆nhanced鈥� version of Head Start and Early Head Start, could even serve as a blueprint for the future of those programs, which are long overdue for , Smith said.

Head Start began in the 1960s鈥� as part of the War on Poverty. Early Head Start followed in 1995 to serve infants and toddlers. Housed within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they are two separate programs, but Smith would like to see that change.

鈥淚t鈥檚 time to make this a birth-to-school-entry program and let communities determine their needs,鈥� she said.

鈥楾he kids are ready鈥�

Educare prefers to locate its centers as close to an elementary school as possible to help ease the transition into state-funded pre-K or kindergarten. The Long Beach center even shares its property with an elementary school.

鈥淭he Tulsa results confirmed the work that we do,鈥� said Maria Harris, who served as an Educare principal until becoming Head Start director for the Long Beach Unified School District. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e hearing from our receiving elementaries is, 鈥楾he kids are ready.鈥� 鈥�

Most Educare classes have three teachers 鈥� a lead with a bachelor鈥檚 degree and two assistants 鈥� providing children more individual attention and opportunities to talk about their routines throughout the day.

Janet Rosales, whose 10-year-old son attended Educare in Tulsa, thinks the consistent structure he experienced during his earliest years is why he鈥檚 doing well in school now. He鈥檚 in the gifted program at Eliot Elementary, is quick and accurate with math problems and loves to draw. 

When her youngest, now 10 months, got a slot at the same center, with the same teacher who taught her son, Rosales said she 鈥渃ried with happiness.鈥� 

鈥淚t鈥檚 just hard to find a place that is so engaging with your children,鈥� Rosales said.