Principal turnover is not a rare disruption anymore—it’s a recurring reality. Research frequently cites that many schools experience a new principal every three to four years, and the ripple effects are well documented: routines shift, trust resets, priorities change, and staff energy gets drained. In the year after a new principal arrives, some studies have found that as many as half of schools see student achievement decline.
But here’s what’s often overlooked: schools don’t run on one leader alone. They run on systems, relationships, and shared practices—many of which are carried by teacher leaders.
A Spring 2025 qualitative case study from Kennesaw State University by Leah Curtright zooms in on a public high school that experienced an extreme scenario: five principals in 36 months. The study explored the lived experiences of eight teacher leaders and asked a practical question schools everywhere are facing:
- How do teacher leaders counter the adverse effects of principal turnover on culture, morale, and student achievement?
The findings are especially relevant for school partners like TinyEYE, because rapid leadership change often impacts student support systems first—referrals, intervention consistency, staff collaboration, and the stability needed for effective therapy services. When school culture wobbles, student services wobble too.
Why Principal Turnover Hurts More Than Schedules
Curtright’s dissertation synthesizes a familiar pattern from the broader research: principal transitions tend to disrupt school culture, staff morale, and achievement. A strong culture—high expectations, trust, communication, and teacher voice—takes years to build and can be quickly weakened when leadership changes repeatedly.
School improvement also takes time (often five to seven years). When principals change every year or two, schools can get stuck in “restart mode,” constantly re-explaining goals, reworking systems, and rebuilding trust.
So what keeps a school steady when the principal seat becomes a revolving door?
The Big Insight: Teacher Leaders Become the Stabilizing Infrastructure
Curtright’s study found four key ways teacher leaders helped sustain stability during intense principal turnover. These aren’t abstract leadership theories—they’re practical behaviors that schools can intentionally cultivate.
1) They Align With the New Principal (Even When It’s Hard)
One of the strongest themes was that teacher leaders actively tried to “align” with each new principal to reduce chaos and resistance. That didn’t mean blind agreement. It meant publicly modeling professionalism and helping staff avoid spiraling into cynicism.
Teacher leaders did this by:
- Projecting stability and calm during uncertainty
- Modeling the new expectations (even if they privately questioned them)
- Encouraging colleagues to give the new leader a fair chance
- Reducing “us vs. them” dynamics that can fracture staff culture
Why it matters: in a transition, staff often watch informal leaders more than formal ones. If teacher leaders signal constant resistance, morale drops faster and the new principal’s initiatives stall—sometimes before they even begin.
2) They Lead From the Bottom Up: Advocacy, Feedback, and Reality Checks
Teacher leaders weren’t just messengers for administration. They also served as advocates for teachers—bringing concerns, context, and “what’s really happening” to the principal.
This bottom-up leadership included:
- Listening closely to staff concerns and patterns
- Helping the principal understand what the school culture already values
- Flagging unintended consequences of new initiatives
- Advocating for teacher needs (time, clarity, support, realistic expectations)
The study highlights an important nuance: this role only works when principals are willing to listen. In the case study, teacher leaders described how alignment and advocacy were far more effective under principals who engaged in two-way communication—versus those who arrived with rigid “fix-it” plans and little curiosity about what already worked.
3) They Act as “Memory Keepers” of the School’s Best Practices
When principals change rapidly, institutional knowledge is at risk. What systems are non-negotiable? What routines protect instructional time? What expectations keep hallways safe and learning consistent?
Teacher leaders in the study served as “memory keepers,” preserving what the school had learned over time and preventing every new administration from reinventing the wheel.
They maintained continuity by reinforcing existing practices such as:
- Consistent expectations for instruction and classroom routines
- Shared approaches to grading, assessment, and monitoring progress
- Behavioral expectations that protect learning time
- Department-level systems that keep staff aligned
In distributed leadership terms, this is a major stabilizer: the school’s “operating system” can persist even when the “CEO role” changes.
4) They Become the Social Glue: Relationships and Emotional Support
Principal turnover doesn’t just create logistical problems—it creates emotional strain. People worry about new evaluations, new priorities, new rules, and whether their work will still be valued.
Teacher leaders in the study described themselves as the “glue” that held staff together through:
- Checking in with colleagues and noticing stress early
- Being a listening ear (sometimes without trying to “fix” anything)
- Recognizing staff efforts and celebrating small wins
- Helping new teachers learn “how we do things here”
This matters for student support services too. When staff relationships are strong, teams collaborate more effectively—making it easier to coordinate interventions, share concerns early, and support students consistently.
What This Means for Schools Working With TinyEYE
TinyEYE partners with schools to provide online therapy services—and therapy outcomes are deeply connected to school culture and collaboration. During principal transitions, schools often experience:
- Shifts in referral processes and intervention priorities
- Staff uncertainty about procedures and compliance expectations
- Reduced time and energy for coordination
- Communication breakdowns between teachers, administrators, and support teams
Curtright’s findings suggest a practical takeaway: when teacher leaders are empowered and supported, they can protect continuity for student services—even when administrative leadership changes.
For schools, that can look like intentionally including teacher leaders in:
- Transition planning and onboarding new principals
- Maintaining consistent student support workflows (including therapy coordination)
- Communicating “what must not break” during leadership change
- Preserving institutional memory around special education, MTSS/RTI, and service delivery expectations
A Simple Action Plan Schools Can Use During Principal Transitions
Based on the dissertation’s themes, here are practical steps districts and schools can implement quickly:
Identify your culture carriers. Who are the teacher leaders others naturally follow? Include them early in transition conversations.
Protect institutional memory. Document key routines: referral steps, student support protocols, grading norms, behavior expectations, and communication channels.
Set up two-way communication. Create structured feedback loops where teacher leaders can share staff concerns and solutions—not just receive directives.
Support the “glue work.” Relationship-building and morale support aren’t extras; they’re stability mechanisms. Recognize and resource them.
Keep student services consistent. During transitions, explicitly protect therapy coordination routines so students don’t experience service disruption.
Leadership Isn’t Just a Person—It’s an Ecosystem
One of the most compelling parts of Curtright’s work is how it aligns with eco-leadership: the idea that organizations function like ecosystems, where resilience comes from connected relationships and distributed influence—not just a single authority figure.
In other words: when a principal leaves, the school shouldn’t lose its identity. If teacher leadership is cultivated, the culture can hold.
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