Transfer & Assignment

Most collective bargaining agreements and board policies address teacher transfers and assignment in some capacity and include separate policies for voluntary and involuntary transfers. Voluntary transfers are initiated by the teacher for personal or professional reasons. In an analysis of teacher-school match quality of teachers from North Carolina, teachers who choose to transfer voluntarily showed higher value added in the year after their move than the year before, measured by value added student performance models (Jackson 2013).

Involuntary transfers are initiated by either a principal or a district administrator. These changes are sometimes initiated with the idea that districts can effectively move teachers to realize a goal such as efficiency or equity. In a study of 375 schools in Miami-Dade County, research indicates that district-initiated, involuntary transfers commonly improve equity since lower performing teachers were moved to higher performing schools and almost always replaced by a teacher who outperformed them (Grissom et al 2014).

Most often, an involuntary transfer results from a change in student enrollment, school budget, or programs offered. When teachers are transferred for these reasons, the process sometimes known as excessing. A teacher's seniority often plays a key role in both identifying teachers for transfer when positions must be cut as well as in determining their new placement. Goldhaber studied 471 different district collective bargaining agreements and teacher observations within those districts. In districts that prioritize seniority in involuntary transfers, effective teachers are less likely to leave disadvantaged schools (Goldhaber et al 2016).This is likely because effective (not synonymous with experienced) teachers in districts that do not use seniority have more leverage to pursue more "desirable" positions.

Districts are increasingly adopting policies of mutual consent for placing excessed teachers. Such policies allow principals to interview and hire teachers of their choosing. Teachers have reported that it is important whether or not their new school wanted them there. A case study of mutual consent-based transfer in New York City found that eight of 10 of involuntarily transferred teachers who were hired into other schools reported satisfaction with their mutual consent transfers (Daly et al 2008)


For more information, visit our hiring and assignment page. 


Daly, T., Keeling, D., Grainger, R., & Grundies, A. (2008). Mutual benefits: New York City's shift to mutual consent in teacher hiring. New York: The New Teacher Project.

Goldhaber, D., Lavery, L., & Theobald, R. (2016). Inconvenient truth? Do collective bargaining agreements help explain the mobility of teachers within school districts?. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 35(4), 848-880.

Grissom, J. A., Loeb, S., & Nakashima, N. A. (2014). Strategic involuntary teacher transfers and teacher performance: Examining equity and efficiency. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 112-140.

Jackson, C. Kirabo. "Match quality, worker productivity, and worker mobility: Direct evidence from teachers." Review of Economics and Statistics 95.4 (2013): 1096-1116.