Giving Compass' Take:

• Education Dive interviewed various superintendents over the past year, and now relays key takeaways from four well-known education officials in the space. 

• How can education philanthropists understand the needs of school districts by creating relationships with superintendents? 

• Read about how superintendents are taking the lead on early childhood education. 

Over the course of the past year, we asked several superintendents what their biggest surprises were upon first taking on a role at that level, gaining insight on how they do everything from navigating district politics to delegating responsibilities to others. Here are their biggest takeaways.

Richard Carranza — Chancellor, New York City Department of Education: I would say when I first became superintendent, at the time I was working for an elected school board, and the surprising thing was how much of my day was actually spent working with school board members, informing school board members, meeting with school board members.

Janice Jackson — Chief Education Officer, Chicago Public Schools:  I had the pleasure of being No. 2. I don't know where everybody is on that. The good news is the former CEO, he liked to take all the hits, which was great because sometimes you have leaders in charge who let other people [do that]. But he did the tough stuff, and so that afforded me the opportunity to observe and see things and learn what to do, what not to do, etc.

Suzanne Lacey — Superintendent, Talladega County Schools: I had done a lot of things in our school system before, and I had probably a little bit of knowledge in a lot of different areas. But I think a thing I struggled with the most was just letting go of the jobs that I had done before.

Glenn Robbins — Superintendent, Tabernacle Township School District: Everything that the leader does is watched and analyzed by his or her fellow employees. While this is certainly not new for any type of leadership position, it does present an opportunity to remain status quo or reinvigorate an entire community.

Read the full article about superintendents' takeaways by Roger Riddell at Education Dive