Houston Education Leadership Partners, LLC

As this school year winds down, one notion about teachers is true.

The end of the school year is when teacher retention often becomes visible.

However, it is rarely when teacher retention begins.

By the time a teacher resigns, the leadership-condition story has usually been unfolding for months.

The numbers are sobering.

Nearly 1 in 7 public school teachers, 15.1%, either move schools or leave the profession in a given year.

Most turnover, 74%, is voluntary and for reasons other than retirement.

In 2025, 53% of teachers reported burnout, and 62% reported frequent job-related stress.

Replacing one teacher can cost nearly $25,000 in large districts, before even accounting for the loss of institutional knowledge, relational trust, and instructional continuity.

And the burden is not evenly distributed. Title I schools experience teacher turnover rates about 50% higher than non-Title I schools.

How does this happen? It may have started when support felt inconsistent, when planning time kept disappearing, when student behavior concerns were not addressed, when collaboration became compliance, when feedback felt evaluative but not helpful, or when teachers stopped believing their voice mattered.

The resignation is the EVENT. The conditions came FIRST.

That is why retention cannot be treated only as an HR problem or a late-spring staffing problem.

It is a Leadership-Conditions Issue that develops across the year.

Campus leaders shape the conditions that influence whether teachers feel effective, supported, trusted, protected, and professionally valued.

District leaders shape whether principals have the support, coaching, clarity, and systems to lead those conditions well.

As the school year ends, the most important question may not be only:
“How many teachers are leaving?”

It may be:

“What were teachers experiencing long before they decided?”

That is where the real retention work begins. Because:

Outcomes tell you WHAT.
Conditions tell you WHY.

As this year ends, what were teachers experiencing long before they decided whether to stay?

If I were a superintendent searching for the gold standard of leadership development for my principals and district leaders, I would have choices.

And I would look carefully.

Research has shown that leadership is second only to teaching in its impact on student learning.

Effective leaders shape the conditions that attract great teachers and keep them.

That makes leadership development one of the most important investments a district can make.

So, I would start with the research.

A seminal study by Tingle, Corrales, and Peters (2017) examined district-led leadership development programs and identified several elements that make them successful.

Effective programs tend to include:

🎯Human capital development that helps leaders build strong teams
🎯Executive leadership training that strengthens strategic decision making
🎯Work focused on improving school culture and climate
🎯Guidance on managing complex school operations
🎯Ongoing support from supervisors
🎯Strong peer relationships among leaders

That narrows the search.

But where do you find a program that includes all those elements?

At Rice University.

The Executive Education Academy, provided by Leadership Partners, LLC and hosted Rice University was designed around exactly these principles.

Participants experience:

👉Two days of leadership development on Leading Self and Leading Teams
👉Executive strategy sessions with world-class MBA faculty
👉Change Management, Sharing Your Public Narrative
👉Culture and leadership diagnostics that measure school conditions
👉A cohort model that builds powerful professional networks
👉Executive coaching from ICF-certified coaches for every participant
👉A credential from Rice University

It is leadership development built around what research says works.

If I were a superintendent evaluating options, I would next want to see the data.

And the impact data from academy participants are remarkable: https://www.leadershippartnerstx.com/2023-comprehensive-program/

So are the data from executive coaching: https://www.leadershippartnerstx.com/coaching-video-testimonials/

My search would end here, as I now know this is the option that hits all the checkboxes.

Without optimized leaders, schools cannot reach their full potential.

So, my leaders are headed to Rice this fall.

If you are interested in learning more about the Executive Education Academy at Rice University, I would be glad to share more.

We are building Cohort 18 right now. Seats fill quickly.

Drop me a line at [email protected]

I look forward to it!

Please share!

👉Midpoint Leadership Findings: What Changes When You Develop the WHOLE LEADER

As you may know, Houston Education Leadership Partners develops K–12 leaders in partnership with Rice Business at Rice University.

Leaders learn from Rice MBA professors, Leadership Partners curriculum, national speakers, receive executive coaching, and do so at Rice in a cohort model.

Each cohort, I collect midpoint feedback from our leaders to assess impact and calibrate program quality. I then synthesize responses to identify patterns and themes.

This year, eight themes emerged. The themes point to changes in how leaders see themselves and how they show up in their roles.

Here are the eight themes with examples of supporting quotes from leaders’ feedback.

1. From Reactive to Intentional

Leaders report pausing before responding and leading with greater deliberateness.
↳ “Instead of reacting in the moment, I now pause, reflect, and respond with purpose, especially during challenging conversations.”

2. Increased Self-Awareness

Participants describe deeper awareness of how their presence affects others.
↳ “I have become more self-aware of how my tone, timing, and presence impact others—especially during high-pressure situations.”

3. Confidence Through Clarity

Confidence grew as thinking became more structured and grounded.
↳ “I feel more confident and clearer in my role as a leader.”

4. From Doing to Designing

Leaders are delegating more intentionally and building team capacity.
↳ “Delegation has not only freed me up to focus on higher-level priorities, but it has also allowed others to develop their skills and confidence.”

5. Coaching as Infrastructure

Coaching accelerated integration and behavioral change.
↳ “Through intentional coaching conversations, I have been working on releasing control and strengthening my delegation skills.”

6. Clearer Strategic Focus

Leaders describe stronger prioritization and clearer boundaries.
↳ “I have become clearer about my priorities and boundaries, which has strengthened my resilience and self-care.”

7. Renewed Energy

Several leaders referenced reduced stress and greater steadiness.
↳ “I don’t feel nearly as stressed about leading others as I have been before.”

8. A Shift in How Leaders Think

Development influenced interpretation and mindset, not just tactics.
↳ “His sessions gave me strong context and practical takeaways that helped me think differently about how I lead myself and others.”

Leadership development is often measured by attendance or satisfaction.

More important is whether it reshapes how leaders interpret, decide, and act.

Leadership development does not happen by accident.
It happens by design.

🧠If I had one whiteboard to explain school accountability, this would be it.

On Tuesday, January 27, I had the opportunity to share this framework at the TASA Midwinter Conference in San Antonio with campus and district leaders from Splendora ISD.

The topic: “Beyond Test Scores: Using the Four Paths of Influence to Strengthen Accountability.”

Thank you to Bay Hill, Associate Principal of Splendora High School; Dairus Cosby, Executive Director of Leadership Development; and Chief Administrative Officer Shane Conklin, Ed.D. Conklin for your collaboration with Houston Education Leadership Partners and participation in this presentation.

You might think the conversation was about test scores, compliance, or “more initiatives.”

It wasn’t.

It was about a different accountability question:

What if the most useful form of accountability isn’t tracking outcomes AFTER the fact, but diagnosing the leadership and organizational conditions that produce them in the first place?

Outcomes tell us WHAT happened.
Conditions tell us WHY.

And “why” is the only thing leaders can influence in real time.

This is the lens we used to explore how leadership practices shape:

• teacher experience,
• retention and attraction,
• and ultimately student achievement.

Participants experienced how, at the campus level, achievement conditions are now crystal clear to leaders. They know exactly what to focus on based on their current conditions data, not on outcomes data that arrive in June.

They also experienced how district leaders can use conditions data to coach with precision, differentiate leadership support, and intervene early—again, instead of waiting for lagging indicators.

Question for campus and district leaders:

Do you know the current conditions of the key variables that impact achievement in your schools? (Classroom Instruction is just 1 of 13.)

Not anecdotally. Based on real data.

⏪Because if accountability only looks at outcomes, it’s always looking backward.

Splendora ISD and Houston Education Leadership Partners are teaming up to present at Midwinter!

Come see us and learn how measured conditions in schools drive achievement, how they attract and retain teachers, and how leadership uses these conditions to improve their schools! See you there!

Please share/repost!

Look who is in the house with us today at Rice University! Dr. Muhammad sharing PLC wisdom with Cohort 17 and alumni! PLC Right, not PLC Lite!

Happy New Year to all! We hope 2026 is filled with great health, joy, and success for you!

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