Advancement · School Operations

Why people leave,
counted, not guessed.

One exit interview is an anecdote. Ten asked the same way are a pattern a leadership team can act on. Record each departing employee’s ratings in six areas and their own words. The builder averages every area across all interviews, ranks them and flags the answers worth a second look.

Add an interviewWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the School operations toolkit, $49 for 52 items.

Exit interviews

The worked example is made up: a science teacher leaving for another school, an aide leaving education after a year and an office manager retiring. Use initials or employee numbers. Saved on this device only.

Loading the interview form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Advancement · School Operations$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per exit interview: initials, position, years, last day, main reason, whether they would return, six ratings from 1 to 5, what would have kept them, one change and five process checks. Works out each person’s average and lowest area; averages and ranks every area across all interviews and counts who would return; flags low ratings, people worth inviting back, early departures from education and unfinished process steps.
Who it is for
Principals, heads of school, HR staff and operations leads who interview staff on their way out.
Format
Browser survey with a saved record per interview. Prints one interview, every interview in a table or a blank interview form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the School operations toolkit ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The School Operations space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Print the blank form if the interview is in person.
  2. Ask for each rating, then ask why.
  3. Write what would have kept them in their words.
  4. Close out access and the benefits notice.
  5. Read the side panel each spring, not after each departure.

Add an interview

Making exit answers useful

From an answer to a changeAreaAskIn the school’s handsWorkloadWhich week was hardest, and why?Coverage, duties, meetingsLeadershipWhen did you need backing?Follow-through, feedbackPay and benefitsWhat would the number need to be?Partly: steps, stipendsRoom to growWhat did you want to learn next?Roles, training, leadsBehavior supportWhat happened after a referral?Process, response timeFrom an answer to a changeWorkloadAsk: Which week was hardest, and why?In the school’s hands: Coverage, duties, meetingsLeadershipAsk: When did you need backing?In the school’s hands: Follow-through, feedbackPay and benefitsAsk: What would the number need to be?In the school’s hands: Partly: steps, stipendsRoom to growAsk: What did you want to learn next?In the school’s hands: Roles, training, leadsBehavior supportAsk: What happened after a referral?In the school’s hands: Process, response time
A rating is where the conversation starts. The follow-up question is where the useful answer is.

Who should ask

A departing employee will say more to someone who is not their direct supervisor and will not write their reference: an assistant head, an HR lead or a board member trained for it. Say who will see the answers and that they are reported in groups.

Read them together

Leaving reasons cluster. If three of five departures rate behavior support at 2, that is a system to fix; if one does, it is a conversation. The side panel ranks the areas so the pattern shows before anyone argues about a single case.

Sources

  1. Society for Human Resource Management. Conducting exit interviews; how to make exit interviews useful (shrm.org).
  2. Learning Policy Institute (2017). Teacher turnover: why it matters and what we can do about it. Sutcher, Darling-Hammond and Carver-Thomas.
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. An employee’s guide to health benefits under COBRA (dol.gov).
  4. National Center for Education Statistics. Teacher Follow-up Survey: reasons teachers leave (nces.ed.gov).

The worked example is made up. Keep exit interview records under your school’s personnel file rules. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.