Superintendents’ agency in the US is shaped by governance systems. School Boards may be dysfunctional, and/or change, resulting in high Superintendent turnover despite the Superintendents meeting their targets to raise exam scores (Grissom and Anderson, 2012). The aim of this research is to generate new understandings of the severity of the impact of different problems Superintendents encounter, and to develop a theory of Empowerment through Governance Systems for Equity and Renewal (Horizon, 2020). We draw on Nathan Glazer’s essay 'Emergence of an American Ethnic Pattern', to identify the Black- White achievement gap as a global phenomena (Wagner, 2010) which has impilcations for other minoritised communities. We are choosing Black Women Superintendents as our sample, because we want to generate new understandings into how they are empowered to lead curriculum transformation to support the educational success of Black children in a context of a Black-White achievement gap. Turbulence Theory allows us to categorise the impact of the interplay between the Superintendent, policy and the School Board as light, moderate severe, or extreme. We will take a social constructivist approach to collecting narrative biographies of 15 Black women superintendents using semi-structured interviews (Denscombe 2007). Our strategy will be case study (Yin, 2009). The research will conform to AERA, BERA, the University of Leicester ethical Code of Conduct, Governors State University Institutional Review Board, and Eastern Illinois University Institutional Review Board. Our position in the research is humanist where each human being has rights (UN, 1945), and responsibilities in their cultural and economic participation in a democratic education system and a democratic society (Dewey, 1916). To address the aims we ask three questions. First, how do 15 Black Women Superintendents describe and understand their interplay with policy and the School Board empowers or disempowers them to raise exam scores and optimise the cultural relevancy of the curriculum for all? Second, how do they describe and understand the role mentors, and/or advocates play when they negotiate the governance structures? Finally, to what extent do superintendents believe a cultural change is required to empower them to empower school communities within existing governance structures?

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