Keep the Principal, Keep the Teachers

by Nate Eklund

Every few months, a headline warns of the teacher shortage. But another story is happening just between the words of that headline. And it has a profound impact on the stability and success of our schools: a shortage of stable leadership.

It goes without saying that good principals are an asset. When they stay long enough to build culture and coherence, the entire building has an opportunity to steady. However, when they cycle through too quickly, whether climbing a career ladder, relocating, or perhaps escaping exhaustion themselves, the impact can reverberate through classrooms, as it's the front-line educators who will feel it first.

Fortunately, and in many cases, when leaders move on, their offices don’t stay empty long. Another capable leader steps in, ready to take on the challenge. Yet, even in the best of circumstances, each new administrator might bring with them a new approach, a new set of priorities, and another round of adjustments for teachers already stretched thin. 

That being said, the encouraging news is that this churn is starting to slow. A recent study by RAND shows that principal turnover is returning to pre-pandemic levels, at roughly 8% in 2023–24, down from nearly double that rate just a few years ago. Again, progress worth celebrating, but unfortunately, stability alone is not always enough.

A 2024 study in Education Sciences by Chad R. Lochmiller, Frank Perrone, and Chris Finley found that principal leadership remains one of the strongest predictors of teacher retention, particularly in high-poverty schools. 

Another 2025 study, "Factors That Make School Leaders Leave", highlights why maintaining that stability is so challenging. School administrators face unmanageable workloads, constant crisis response, and limited access to meaningful coaching or shared decision-making. We ask people to lead systems that were never designed for sustainability.

If you’ve worked in schools long enough, you’ve seen what that looks like. A trusted leader moves on, and the rhythm of the building changes suddenly. Priorities shift. Processes are rewritten. Teachers spend their energy adapting instead of improving. It’s not just a transition at that point because it’s literal fatigue.

Teacher retention is correlated with leadership retention. Teachers stay in schools where the direction and communication are consistent, and their administration has the time and support to lead well. The question isn’t whether principals are capable of the work because it comes down to whether or not the work has been structured to be realistic and tangible.

And this is where organizational design becomes essential. Sustainable leadership depends on coaching that is proactive, not reactive. As in, using collaboration that distributes responsibility instead of concentrating it. Policy rhythms that protect time for reflection and long-range thinking. These are not perks; they are realistic preconditions for schools that can keep both their leaders and their teachers.

Create systems that protect the time, the focus, and the clarity of its leaders, and stability will follow. Teachers will sense it. Students will sense it. And the school can finally take a collective sigh of relief. 

Retention starts with leadership. And leadership health starts with the systems that surround it.

Take a close look at your leadership team this week. Where might burnout be hiding in plain sight? What parts of your current system could be redesigned to help them lead better?