Christopher J. Steinhauser, Superintendent of Schools

Biography

Christopher J. Steinhauser has served as superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District since 2002. The school district is California’s third largest, with about 88,000 students. As a 28-year veteran educator in Long Beach’s diverse school system, Steinhauser has earned a national reputation for improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps. His school district has earned the national Broad Prize for Urban Education and has qualified as a finalist for the award five times. Only one other school district, Boston, has reached the prestigious Broad Prize finalist stage as many times as Long Beach.

Despite millions of dollars in budget cuts due to California’s fiscal meltdown, Long Beach continues to outperform large districts nationwide. Its students, more than two-thirds of whom receive free and reduced-price lunches, recently earned a record $40 million in college scholarships -- double what they earned two years earlier. Six of Long Beach’s high schools were named in 2009 among the top 6 percent in the United States by Newsweek.

Steinhauser has a strong track record of boosting achievement in all geographic areas of the school district. Beginning as a successful teacher at an inner-city elementary school in Long Beach, Steinhauser went on to attain high student achievement as a school principal. He became Deputy Superintendent in 1999 before his unanimous appointment as Superintendent in 2002. During his years as Deputy Superintendent, students in all major racial and ethnic groups throughout the district made unprecedented gains on state tests.

Superintendent Steinhauser is a product of the Long Beach Unified School District, where he attended continuously from kindergarten until his graduation from Wilson High School in 1977. He attended Long Beach City College and California State University Long Beach, earning a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and a master’s degree in educational administration. He earned multiple-subject and administrative services credentials at the university.

Steinhauser’s wife, Alida, is a veteran educator who teaches fifth grade literacy at the district’s Signal Hill Elementary School. Their son, Edward, graduated from Long Beach’s Wilson Classical High School in June of 2005. Their daughter, Patricia, graduated in June of 2007.

Updated July 2009