Turnover Tactics: Unveiling the Frequency and Mechanisms of Counseling Out

This study explores the prevalence and characteristics of “counseling out” as a human resource management tool used by principals to address teacher quality. Recognizing that teachers significantly impact student achievement, the effective management of teacher quality is a critical responsibility for principals. However, formal dismissal processes may pose challenges, prompting principals to employ alternative mechanisms such as counseling out. Through interviews with 50 principals across six traditional public school districts in four states, the authors find that 21% of departing teachers (3% of all teachers) were counseled out after the 2017–2018 school year and that 94% of principals reported ever counseling a teacher out. Principals employed a range of counseling-out strategies, many of which blurred the line between formal and informal evaluation and dismissal, reflecting the need for flexible human resource management approaches. Notably, counseled-out teachers were more likely to be low performers, often relocating to other schools within or outside their district. These findings underscore the prevalent use of counseling out as a human resource management practice among principals and suggest a need for school districts and policymakers to recognize and support additional uses of teacher evaluation systems to ensure they are used effectively and sensitively.