Who Leads California’s Schools? New Insights from Statewide Administrator Data
Introduction
What does California’s recent administrator data reveal about who leads our schools, and how does leadership composition compare with that of the teacher workforce?
UCLA CTS researchers analyzed new statewide administrator data from the California Department of Education, the first release of this data since pre-COVID. In the second of our two California educator workforce data briefs, we look at five years of data (SY 2019-20 through 2023-24) to examine who is serving as California’s principals and superintendents.
The brief explores trends in race/ethnicity, gender, education, and experience, highlighting both similar and differing patterns from the teacher workforce, including a growing representation of women and administrators of color and shifts in educational credentials.
Together, the pair of briefs offer a timely look at how representation and leadership pathways are evolving across California’s education workforce, and implications for strengthening and diversifying the educator pipeline.
Read Brief 1: Six Years of Change: What Statewide Trends Reveal About California’s Teaching Workforce
The first brief explores changes among more than 285,000 teachers, highlighting shifts in experience levels, credentialing, subject-area staffing, and workforce composition since COVID-19.
Findings
Finding 1: The number of experienced administrators increased, but the overall percentage of experienced administrators is slowly declining.*
Although the total workforce of administrators is growing, there are more inexperienced administrators entering the workforce each year. One possible factor is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: During the 2020-21 school year, approximately 11% of public school principals nationwide left their role entirely. Many superintendents also chose to retire around this time.
Finding 2: Asian, Black, and Latine administrators have increased.
State and district initiatives emphasizing equity-focused leadership pathways like mentorship programs, residencies, and funding tied to educator diversity have likely contributed to the growth of administrators of color. With high turnover during the pandemic, a large number of vacancies were filled by promoting experienced, racially diverse teachers.
Finding 3: The overall percentage of white administrators within the administrator workforce is decreasing.
The diversification of the administrator workforce was driven more by growth of administrators of color than a sharp decline of white administrators.
Superintendent turnover almost doubled in the early pandemic years (between 2019-20 and 2020-21). Since white administrators have historically comprised the majority of the workforce, they make up the largest group of those exiting the field.
White older and late-career leaders are overrepresented among administrators and therefore are more likely to be near retirement age or leave due to sudden shifts in job demands, political pressures, and/or the crisis-driven working conditions.
Finding 4: There are more Black administrators than Asian administrators, opposite to the patterns of Black and Asian teachers.
These upward trends may reflect efforts to expand leadership pipelines and mentorship programs for educators of color. Leadership support can improve teacher retention and strengthen pathways into administrative roles. This can positively influence career mobility and retention.
Asian administrators make up about five percent of the administrator workforce, but ten percent of California’s students and six percent of teachers, highlighting the need to reinforce diverse leadership pipelines.
Finding 5: The percentage of administrators with master’s degrees increased and remained the most common degree.
The distribution of educational levels among administrators has remained relatively stagnant over the past five years. Administrators with master’s degrees represent more than half of the workforce.
Finding 6: The percentage of administrators with bachelor’s degrees increased.
The rise of integrated undergraduate teacher preparation programs and some nursing pathways could explain this trend.
Finding 7: The percentage of female administrators increased, while the percentage of male administrators decreased.
The gender gap has widened since the pandemic. Female administrators represent 66.9% of the workforce, while male administrators represent 33.1%. The decrease of male administrators could mean that more are retiring or more teachers may be leaving the school system entirely, which also reinforces the lack of male teachers.
*Newly released data from CDE (https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/cm/dqstaffdemo.asp) for the 2024-25 school year (SY) published after the completion of this analysis reports the number of administrators decreased by 191, or 0.7%, between SYs 2023-24 to 2024-25. The new data shows that 95.68% of administrators are considered experienced.
Recommendations
Establish statewide metrics and goals for a capable, sustainable and diverse school administrator workforce.
Modernize and standardize administrator data systems.
Invest in administrator-centered research and needs assessments to complement quantitative data.
Determine explicit state goals to strengthen and diversify leadership pipelines.
Policymakers should address persistent racial and gender disparities across administrative roles.
Assess the long-term impact of COVID-19 and federal funding shifts on administrator stability and retention.
