During recent decades, the rise of the global economy launched a wide array of social, economic, and political changes in nations throughout the world. Heightened concern about the quality of schools launched what is arguably the most pervasive, intense, and protracted attempts at educational reform in recent history. Examinations of the fundamental assumptions about how schools are organized, governed, and led contributed to shifts in educational policies in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and the United States. Findings from national superintendent studies provide insights into changes in political ideology, devolution of responsibility for education, and the changing nature of superintendents' leadership.