California’s school leadership is becoming more diverse, but the state’s data collection is leaving some pretty big gaps in the picture. A new UCLA study analyzing five years of California Department of Education data shows more women and people of color are moving into administrator roles, which is genuinely good news. But here’s the catch: we can’t actually tell if these gains are happening at all levels of leadership or just in certain positions.

From 2019-20 to 2023-24, the number of school administrators jumped nearly 9%, hitting 28,780 statewide. Female administrators increased by almost 3% to make up 66.8% of the workforce, while male administrators dropped to 33.1%. Latino administrators saw a nearly 3% increase to 26.3%, and Black and Asian administrators each ticked up incrementally to 8% and 5% respectively. Still, white administrators represent the majority at 53.3%.

But here’s where things get fuzzy. California’s data doesn’t break down numbers by job title, so researchers can’t determine whether women and people of color are actually landing the top superintendent gigs or if they’re mostly filling principal and vice principal positions. National patterns suggest this might be happening, but nobody really knows for California specifically. That’s a problem, according to Joe Bishop, executive director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. “The data is still informative, but it just doesn’t get down to the level that could be more helpful”, he said.

This lack of detailed data matters because superintendent turnover is hitting crisis levels. Nationally, nearly a quarter of the top 500 school districts saw leadership changes in 2025, up 5% from the previous year. Several major California districts are losing their leaders, including Long Beach Unified, Elk Grove Unified, and Palo Alto, with many superintendents retiring after decade-plus tenures. The departures are driven by brutal budget cuts, declining enrollment, and the loss of federal funding.

Bishop predicts resignations will only increase as district leaders face impossible decisions around layoffs and budget slashing. “It’s just a really hard time to be an educational leader in public education, especially in California”, he said. The state has poured over $1 billion into teacher recruitment since 2018, but administrators haven’t gotten the same attention.

The UCLA researchers are calling for California to establish clearer metrics, modernize its data systems, and create targeted initiatives to diversify leadership pipelines. The state also needs to figure out why administrators are actually leaving their jobs. “Educational leaders are the secret sauce for the system, especially in terms of teacher retention”, Bishop emphasized. “If you don’t have a leader who knows how to support their staff and students, everybody is impacted”.

Without better data and intentional action, California risks losing its shot at building a school leadership pipeline that actually reflects the communities it serves.