Blog Post [ELM#1112] From the Classroom to the Cabinet

What are the best pathways and preparation programs for aspiring superintendents and central office leaders? It’s a question I hear more than almost any other when I sit across from talented, passionate K–12 administrators who sense that they are built for something more, who feel the pull toward district leadership but are not quite sure how to get there with intention, confidence, and clarity.

I recall a conversation I had some years ago with a bright assistant principal, a leader who showed up every single day with fire in her eyes and strategy in her heart. She had the talent. She had the heart. She had the resilience that this work demands. But when I asked her what her plan was for moving into a district leadership role, she looked at me with a kind of quiet helplessness and said, “I’m just waiting for someone to notice me.”

That one sentence has stayed with me ever since, because it represents one of the most common and costly patterns I see among aspiring leaders. They are doing the work. They are serving their schools and communities with excellence. But they are approaching their professional future passively, as though the path to the superintendency is something that happens to you rather than something you deliberately, intentionally, and courageously build.

Let me be direct with you: waiting to be discovered is not a leadership strategy. It is a hope. And hope, while beautiful, is not a plan.

What Aspiring Leaders Are Missing

The first thing aspiring leaders miss is assuming that doing the job well is the same as preparing for the next job. Excellence in your current role matters enormously, but it is table stakes, not a ticket to the superintendent’s office. Districts and boards are not simply looking for the best principal in their system. They are searching for someone who understands governance, finance, community engagement, labor relations, instructional systems thinking, and political navigation simultaneously.

The second thing people overlook is their orientation toward learning. Too many aspiring leaders see professional development as something done to them, a conference here, a workshop there, rather than something they architect with purpose. As Vince Bustamante and Tim Cusack argue in Leader Ready, aspiring leaders need guided, mastery-level experiences that go far beyond passive learning. They need real-time, hands-on leadership opportunities that stretch them into more complex situations.

The third and perhaps most profound misstep is what I’d call an identity gap. Many aspiring superintendents and central office leaders still see themselves as educators who happen to be in leadership, rather than leaders who are called to shape entire systems. John Maxwell was right when he said that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Until you begin to inhabit the identity of a district leader, not just the title, but the full weight and vision of the role, you will keep showing up underprepared, even when you are technically overqualified.

Building Yourself With Intention

So what does the path actually look like for those who get it right?

It begins with structured, credentialed preparation. Programs like AASA’s Aspiring Superintendents Academy®are designed specifically to equip future superintendents with the practical skills, governance fluency, and systems thinking required to lead districts in today’s complex environment. AASA offers tailored academies for women leaders, Latino and Latina leaders, and urban school system leaders, recognizing that the road to the superintendency is not one-size-fits-all. When aligned with the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL), these programs ensure that aspiring superintendents are not only credentialed but also competent.

But formal programs alone are not sufficient. Research and lived experience both tell us that the leaders who ascend most effectively are those embedded in mentorship relationships that are real, reciprocal, and challenging. Gina Sudaria, Superintendent of Ravenswood City School District in California, described executive coaching as the thing that helped her “prioritize where to start, how to identify next steps, and how to keep the focus of decisions centered on student learning.” That is not a luxury; that is a lifeline.

New Leaders, an organization with more than two decades of leadership development experience, has documented that only 23% of elementary school principals report having a coach or mentor, a staggering gap, given what we know about how coaching accelerates leader effectiveness and retention. If you are an aspiring central office leader and you do not yet have a mentor, finding one is not optional; it is urgent.

The leadership pipeline crisis is real. Across the country, experienced administrators are retiring at increasing rates while fewer educators are pursuing administrative credentials. The role has grown exponentially more complex, encompassing student wellness, community relations, instructional leadership, regulatory compliance, and labor management. This is not a moment to drift toward leadership. It is a moment to sprint toward preparation.

The aspiring leaders who rise are those who, as Bustamante and Cusack describe, move systematically from foundational understanding to guided practice to mastery, supported by trusted mentors who know when to prompt, when to push, and when to give them the wheel entirely. They seek out cohort-based experiences, leadership residencies, and university partnerships that align preparation with the actual demands of district leadership. They engage in the hard conversations. They study the budget. They sit in board meetings. They learn governance not from a book, but from proximity to those who practice it daily.

And critically, they do the inner work. The best preparation programs on earth will not serve you if you have not done the personal leadership reckoning, the clarity-seeking about your values, your vision, your non-negotiables, and the kind of leader you are committed to becoming. Leadership development, at its highest level, is identity development.

The Call, For You

That assistant principal I mentioned earlier? She stopped waiting to be noticed. She enrolled in a structured leadership development program, sought out a mentor who challenged her thinking, and began showing up in spaces where district leaders operated. Within a few years, she stepped into a central office role, not because someone finally chose her, but because she had chosen herself, and then had done the work to back it up.

That story is available to you, too.

So here’s my encouragement: Don’t wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder. Audit your preparation right now.

1. Are you enrolled in or connected to a formal aspiring leaders program?
2. Do you have a mentor who challenges you rather than affirms you?
3. Are you seeking leadership experiences at the mastery level beyond your current role?
4. Are you building relationships across your district, your state, and the professional community that will open doors and sustain you when leadership gets hard?

Because here is what I know for certain: the children and communities you will one day serve at the highest level cannot wait for you to get ready someday. They need you to get ready now.

So the question is not just what are the best pathways for aspiring superintendents and central office leaders? The real question is: What pathway are you walking, and are you walking it with intention?

#EducationalLeader,
Kim

When students are well led, they learn well.

References

• American Association of School Administrators (AASA). (n.d.). Aspiring leaders. AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
• Bustamante, V., & Cusack, T. (2023). Leader ready: Four pathways to prepare aspiring school leaders. Corwin Connect.
• Cusack, T., & Bustamante, V. (2023). Leader ready: Four pathways to prepare aspiring leaders. Corwin Press.
• Maxwell, J. C. (1993). Developing the leader within you. Thomas Nelson.
• New Leaders. (2023). Starting strong: What K12 leadership coaching can do for you.
• Vaden, R. (2012). Take the stairs: 7 steps to achieving true success. Perigee Books.
• Yousef, M. (2026, February 26). Strengthening the PK-12 leadership pipeline during a succession crisis. eSchool News.

The views shared herein are solely those of Dr. Kim D. Moore and do not necessarily reflect the positions of her employer, the school district, or any local, state, or federal government entity.