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Free leadership resource · Conversation guide

Five teacher stay interview questions for school leaders

Five open questions and a follow-up process for listening to teachers while there is still time to improve a working condition.

Created by Cited Leadership for local discussion. This guide is not a validated instrument, a performance review, or a proven retention intervention.

By Cited Leadership editorial team · Published · Updated · Sources reviewed

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What the evidence can tell us

A U.S. Institute of Education Sciences report describes stay interviews with about 200 early-career teachers across four Utah districts. District leaders and instructional coaches conducted the conversations; districts avoided using teachers’ direct supervisors as interviewers. The report documents one local process and its themes. It does not establish that stay interviews cause teachers to remain. Regional Educational Laboratory West. (2024). Lessons From Stay Interviews of Early Career Teachers in Four Utah School Districts. WestEd, prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. See our teacher retention research brief for wider evidence and limits.

Before the conversation

  • Invite a range of roles and career stages. Explain why the person was invited, who will see notes, and how themes will be reported.
  • Use a trusted interviewer outside the direct reporting line when that makes it easier to speak openly.
  • Do not promise a change you cannot control. Say how and when the teacher will hear what happens next.
  • Ask permission before taking notes or sharing a specific example. Let the teacher pass on any question.

The Utah conversations described by REL West took about 30 minutes. Use a shorter or longer slot if the teacher prefers.

Five questions to ask

  1. What parts of your work here help you do your best work?

    What would you want us to protect or make more possible?

  2. What makes your work harder than it needs to be?

    Which part could the school realistically change, test or explain better?

  3. When have you felt that your professional judgment was heard?

    Where would clearer feedback or a visible response make a difference?

  4. What growth would matter to you over the next year?

    What time, support or opportunity would make that realistic?

  5. What is one change that would improve your experience at this school?

    What should leaders understand about why it matters?

Close the loop

  1. Check your notes with the teacher and agree what can be shared.
  2. Combine comments into themes; remove names and details that could identify a person in a small team.
  3. Report back three things: what will change, what will be tested, and what cannot change now (with the reason).
  4. Name an owner and a date to review each action. Tell participants what happened by that date.

Keep any identifiable notes access-limited and for a stated period. Follow your school’s privacy, safeguarding, employment and record-keeping rules.

Source: Regional Educational Laboratory West. (2024). Lessons From Stay Interviews of Early Career Teachers in Four Utah School Districts. WestEd, prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. · For evidence context, read the teacher retention brief.

Reviewed source context

  1. Regional Educational Laboratory West. (2024). Lessons From Stay Interviews of Early Career Teachers in Four Utah School Districts. WestEd, prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
    Design
    Descriptive account of district stay interviews, not an intervention impact evaluation.
    Setting
    Approximately 200 teachers in their second to fifth years in four Utah districts; interviews in November–December 2023.
    Material actually reviewed
    All six pages of the original brief: process, themes, considerations and appendix; design/figure page visually checked.
    Limitations
    More than half the interviews came from one district; questions varied slightly. No comparison or measured retention effect.
    Producer
    REL West, administered by WestEd.
    Funding
    Prepared under U.S. Department of Education contract 91990022C0003; several districts received federal Title IIA support for interviews.
    Source reviewed
    12 October 2026