Assistant Principal

Choose your most important achievement in education and briefly, describe what you did, what skills you used, and how you did it. Consider mentioning: implementing curricular changes, establishing a school-wide discipline program, creating a tutoring program, earning a Ph.D., helping raise test scores, implementing an anti-gang or anti-drug program, creating a program for second language learners, writing a book, or creating a program for music or the arts.

Dedicate time to prepare for any potential school administrator job interview questions in advance.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Don’t get caught off-guard.

If you are having a difficult time narrowing down your achievements to just one, try to pick one that you are most proud of or one that deals with an issue that is important to the school you are applying for. For instance, if the school you are interviewing with is struggling with bullying, it would be great to mention your experience with introducing successful anti-bullying campaigns.

Be prepared to outline, briefly, your goals for the next five to ten years. Include your educational goals that will develop your skills, as well as your job goals. Don’t seem too anxious to move into other jobs. State that you intend to stay in the job for which you are being hired for at least five years. (Quick principal turnover is not considered to be good for schools.)

Never mention your plans to move to another area or take time off to have a child. This is also a great time to list some of your professional goals for the school you are applying for. State that you’d like to have the school renowned for its testing scores, its graduation rates improved, its technology increased, or its student retention increased. Showing that you have specific goals for the school will put you in the forefront as a serious administrative candidate.

This is a question you must think about carefully before interviewing. It is a good idea to write out your philosophy of administration and leadership. You can bring the document with you to the interview to refer to. You should include:

☛ A brief statement of why you became an educator.

☛ Mentors you have had and what they taught you.

☛ A statement about the purpose and importance of a good education in a student’s life.

☛ The nature of the learning environment in a school, for example, challenging, enjoyable, safe, open, and supportive.

☛ Your preferred administrative (leadership) style.

☛ Ways in which you communicate with staff members, parents, and students.

☛ Your beliefs on discipline.

☛ How you will provide an excellent role model for students.

☛ Ways in which you would like to improve education.

☛ How your school will meet students’ individual needs.

☛ The values you want students to learn including responsibility, good citizenship, hard work, caring, conflict resolution, excellent people skills, and honesty.

☛ How you want to be remembered by students, parents, teachers, and others.

☛ Your ultimate goal as an educational leader.

I think the most significant pressure that a school administrator facing these days is figuring out how to do more with less. Decreased and a lack of funding is a critical issue facing most principals. Funding is decreasing at the state, federal, and local levels. Schools need to be innovated and do more with less. The lack of funding translates into having less certified staff, non-certified staff, and less educational resources.

Schools are still expected to perform at the same level, if not higher, than before. School administrators are under pressure to stretch their budgets, come up with creative ways to obtain and improve resources and keep their limited staff from burnout.

At times the principal may delegate the discipline of an unruly student to you. A potential employer will want to know how you have used discipline in the past and whether it was effective. Some administrators use detention, suspension or even expulsion. Respond with specific situations you have dealt with and detail what you learned from each. Include information about the offense, the steps you took and the outcome. If you are new to administration, use what you have learned in your classes and witnessed in your educational experience to detail how you would handle an imaginary but common scenario. You might also explain how and when you would involve parents and teachers in a disciplinary issue.