Principal Turnover: Are There Different Types of Principals who Move From or Leave Their Schools?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent that there is a typology of principals who depart from their schools in the U.S. using the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2008-09 Principal Follow-up Survey. Prior principal retention research has focused on identifying factors that predict principal turnover, however this research has not focused on understanding the extent to which there may potentially be different subgroups of principals who depart. This study uses Latent Class Analysis to identify and better understand the types of principals who exit their schools and discusses the implications of such findings. Keywords: principals, principal turnover, principal retention, latent class analysis, schools and staffing survey, principal follow-up survey, surveys, mixture modelin