EPISODE SUMMARY

We speak with Drs. Frank Davidson and Howard Carlson, retired superintendents and current professors of educational leadership at Northern Arizona University, about transitioning out of the superintendency and how to set up the new superintendent for success.

EPISODE NOTES

Dr. Frank Davidson and Dr. Howard Carlson have a lot in common. They’re both educators, they both ended up as academics at Northern Arizona, and they both recently retired from long, well-regarded careers as superintendents. Frank retired from Casa Grande Elementary School District in 2017 after 20 years of leading his district and Howard retired after eleven years at the Wickenburg Unified School District. Following their retirements, Frank and Howard launched a new project researching what felt to them was an under-explored territory that every superintendent experiences: navigating successful transitions between superintendents.

In this episode, Frank and Howard are digging deeper into what can make or break a transition between superintendents, based both on their data and their own invaluable experience. As recent reports suggest an increase in turnover among superintendents and other school leaders, this research is vitally important as we move forward into a period of rapid, industry-wide change.

For more information about the NAU Department of Educational Leadership Rural & Small Schools Resource Center (NAURRC), visit naurrc.org.

Dr. Frank Davidson (@FDavidsonAZ)

Dr. Howard Carlson (@HowardCarlson2)

You can view the research conducted by Dr. Davidson and Dr. Carlson in the Winter 2021 edition of AASA's Journal of Scholarship and Practice.

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