New Leaders for Urban Schools: The Rise of Non-Traditional School Leaders 305
FINDINGS
Larger school systems in the United States have begun to hire non-traditional
superintendents who have no significant experience in education leadership. Several factors
have been cited as the rationale behind these hirings, foremost of these being the leaders’
previous track records in managing corporate finances, meeting operational and strategic
performance goals, and providing leadership within a complex corporate or military
hierarchy. Data from our study suggest that success in other sectors may not readily translate
into successful school system leadership.
OVERVIEW OF THE SEVEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND THE NON-
TRADITIONAL SUPERINTENDENTS
The Merrill School District
The Merrill School District has an operating budget of over $4.6 billion, and serves
408,600 students in 655 schools. Over the past three years, student enrollment has dropped by
almost 20%. This majority-minority system is comprised of a student population that is
approximately 47% African-American, 39% Hispanic, 8% Caucasian, 3% Asian/Pacific
Islander, with the remaining 3% identified as multi-racial, American Indian, or “other.”
Roughly 85% of these students are from low-income families, and 15% are categorized as
English Language Learners (ELL).
In 2001, The Mayor of Merrill appointed Pat Allison the superintendent of the Merrill
school system. Although there was some initial controversy when the mayor appointed a non-
educator as superintendent, for the past seven years, Allison has enjoyed the support of the
mayor as he has attempted to implement reform initiatives. Superintendent Allison reported
that, “I don’t think I was brought in to maintain the status quo. I brought to the table a huge
passion for children, a real understanding of the city, a real understanding of what great public
education can and should look like in the inner city, and a sense of mission that we needed to
make dramatic changes. I think that those are some of the attributes that the mayor was
looking for.”
Clearly, Allison believed he was brought in as a change agent, but he was not completely
new to the education sector. He had some experiences with schools prior to his appointment
as superintendent. For approximately six years, he led an initiative in the city to create
education opportunities for inner-city children. Before his work with schools, Allison was a
professional athlete, an experience he has claimed to draw on to rally momentum for his
initiatives. He graduated magna cum laude with a liberal arts degree from an elite
Northeastern university.
While Allison may enjoy the support of the mayor, he has failed to make notable
improvements in student academic performance. In fact, the district is on academic watch
after not making AYP for four consecutive years. While the district made only modest gains
in student test scores over the last two NAEP testing cycles (up an average of 2.5 points on
the 4th and 8th grade NAEP exams), the graduation rate fell by 8% (down to 66% from 74%).