How do effective principals keep their teachers?

by Betsey Useem

Some Philadelphia middle schools have low staff turnover because of the skills and management styles of their principals.

Middle schools in Philadelphia tend to have the highest rates of teacher turnover of any type of school in the city. Yet it is widely known that some middle schools have a stable teaching force and are considered good places to work.

A Philadelphia Education Fund study in March 2001 identified some common practices of the principals in middle schools with low rates of teacher turnover.

Overall, middle schools that are small (fewer than 450 students) and/or that have somewhat lower rates of poverty are more likely to retain teachers over a long period.

Teacher turnover is lower when principals can foster an orderly school environment. Photo: Harvey Finkle

At high-poverty, large middle schools, even strong principals have difficulty keeping teachers from year to year. Only two large Philadelphia middle schools with a high proportion of low-income students have a relatively good track record in this regard. Both have a history of strong and stable principal leadership.

The study found that teacher turnover is low in schools where principals:

• Involve themselves actively in teacher recruitment. Strategies include going to Human Resources school selection sessions or sending school delegates to them; personally recruiting prospective teachers, such as successful student teachers or potential transfers at other schools, and then “manipulating the system” in some way to make sure those teachers end up being assigned to their schools.

• Implement strong induction programs for new teachers. They make themselves available in their buildings in August and often in July; give new teachers “good” rosters; assign mentors in a timely way; hold regular group or individual meetings with new teachers; and have their office doors open for regular conversations. One principal does “dialogue journals” around the lesson plans of new teachers.

• Oversee safe and orderly school environments and actively back up their teachers on disciplinary issues. This is part of an overall philosophy that a big part of the principal’s role is to support teachers and let them know someone cares about what is happening to them on a daily basis.

• Maintain a welcoming and respectful administrative approach toward teachers, children, parents, and school visitors. This requires good people skills.

• Delegate authority and develop the leadership skills of other school staff.

• Provide materials and supplies to teachers in a consistent, timely, and smart way. Rooms are supplied when school opens; requisitions are used so that the supply closet isn’t emptied prematurely; there are quick trips to Staples and immediate deliveries of supplies when necessary; there is careful oversight of books and materials ordered by secretaries or operations officers.

• Make accommodations for teachers’ personal and family emergencies, even if this means breaking some regulations (“creative insubordination”).

• Know how to prioritize and deal efficiently with paper work and other central office/cluster requests. This means having some mix of high energy level, organizational skills, and the self-confidence to break rules when necessary. The latter is often gained from prior experience in the central office.

In sum, principals who have strong interpersonal and organizational skills and whose management style is respectful of teachers’ skills and personal lives are much more likely than other principals to build loyalty among their teaching staffs and keep them in their buildings.