Publications

The Council’s latest report, NAEP’s Hidden Power: Understanding Achievement at the Intersections, provides intersectional analyses of NAEP, the only national assessment that allows us to examine what students know and how they perform at key intersections (e.g., SES and race/ethnicity or language and disability), revealing what works, where gaps persist, and how specific groups experience school systems.

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.

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.

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.

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.