5 Leadership turnover and business mobilization: the changing political ecology of urban school systems

This chapter addresses evidence of leadership turnover in urban school systems and explains this leadership problem as emanating from the changing political ecology of urban school systems. The average tenure of urban superintendents is now 2‐5 years, coupled with a shortage of applicants for vacant superintendencies, indicating a crisis of legitimacy for many urban school systems. Demands for racial representativeness on school boards and among superintendents led to more African‐Americans in these positions, but responsiveness to these demands did not check still other demands for improved quality. The evolution from racial equity (integration and representativeness) to quality is reviewed. Most recently, business leaders have mobilized to demand improved quality. An analysis of events in Detroit, Atlanta and Milwaukee illustrates the difficulty these school systems have had managing these cumulative political demands.