Latest Publications

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    Urban District Superintendents: Characteristics, Tenure, and Salaries
     
    This study focuses on understanding the racial and gender demographics of superintendents, trends in superintendent tenure, the prevalence of turnover within demographic groups as well as the relationship between superintendent and district characteristics and base salaries.
    30 pages
    March 2025
     
     
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    Leadership Transition Guide
     
    Transition in school district leadership is inevitable. The good news? From a communications point of view, naming a new superintendent is an opportunity to build goodwill and community partnerships. It can be a fresh start. It can be time to engage students, parents, and educators with new and exciting ideas about student achievement and stakeholder collaboration.
    31 pages
    October 2024
     
     
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    Academic Key Performance Indicators, 2024 Report
     
    Over the years, the nation’s large urban school districts have consistently learned from the progress of their peer districts across the country. Great City School districts that have embraced the challenge of educating America’s urban children have recognized the value of benchmarking their performance and growth against the progress of others.
    196 pages
    October 2024
     
     
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    Managing for Results in America's Great City Schools, 2024, Results from Fiscal Year 2022-2023
     
    In 2002 the Council of the Great City Schools and its members set out to develop performance measures that could be used to improve business operations in urban public school districts. The Council launched the Performance Measurement and Benchmarking Project to achieve these objectives.
    190 pages
    October 2024
     
     
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    Annual Report, 2023-2024
     
    The Annual Report features the activities and achievements of the Council of the Great City Schools during the 2023-24 program year.
    28 pages
    July 2024
     
     
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    Crisis Communication: Before, During, and After a Crisis or Active Shooter Event
     
    This guidebook was created to help PREs proactively plan for, and be ready to manage, communications during any crisis that raises extreme anxiety over school safety, that threatens the lives of children and staff, and halts routine school operations. The document also includes specific communication examples from school districts that have experienced other types of crisis such as cyberattacks.
    39 pages
    December 2023
     
     
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    Building Safer Schools and Communities: Findings and Recommendations from the Joint Task Force on School Safety and Justice
     
    This document proposes new and innovative approaches to reducing incidents of violence in schools and communities with a focus on shifting mindsets and reframing relationships and practices related to schools, police, and communities.
    25 pages
    November 2023
     
     
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    Academic Key Performance Indicators, 2023 Report
     
    The 2023 report presents an updated set of data for school year 2021-22. This report presents several different ways that member districts can analyze the data themselves by disaggregating results, showing trends, and combining variables. The companion online dashboard has been updated with the most recent data allowing districts to conduct several comparisons and analysis beyond what is presented in this report. To access this system, go to www.edwires.org.
    196 pages
    October 2023