Interview Questions to Ask Principal Candidates
Principal interview questions for the hiring side of the table: a superintendent, a school board, a local school council, or a search committee of teachers and parents. They follow the order such an interview usually takes, from why this school and what the first months would hold, through instruction and data, students and families, teachers and staff, and budget and the district, to how the candidate has handled a crisis and a few to close on. No panel gets through them all in one sitting, so pick a few from each group and give more time to the area your school most needs.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Opening
Why do you want to be the principal of this school in particular?
Why ask it
A candidate who has done the homework names something particular: a program, a figure from the school's public report, a remark from a staff member on a visit. If the answer would fit any building in the district, ask what they found out about this one before applying.
What in your experience has prepared you to run a school, and which part of this job would be new to you?
Why ask it
Many candidates are assistant principals, or principals moving from a smaller school or a different grade span, so something in the job will be new: the budget, the age of the students, supervising other administrators. Naming it without being pushed is a better sign than a claim to have done it all, and it tells the district what support the first year would need.
How would you describe your leadership style, and what would the staff at your current school say about it?
Why ask it
The label tells you little, and what they think their staff would say tells you more. Ask for something they did in the last month that shows the style at work, then put the same question to their references and compare.
What does an excellent school look like to you, and how would we know this one was getting closer?
Why ask it
Vision answers drift into slogans, which is why the question ends by asking for evidence: things a visitor could see or count, such as what students are doing during a lesson or how many are reading at grade level. Someone who cannot name any has a wish, not a plan.
What would your first 90 days here look like?
Why ask it
The strongest entry plans are mostly listening: a conversation with every staff member, time in every classroom, a read of the data, and a date for reporting back what they heard. A list of changes from someone who has not yet met the staff deserves one follow-up: which of these could wait until you know the building?
Tell us about a change you led at a school. What was different two years later?
Why ask it
Starting something is easy to describe, and what lasted is the test. Hear who else carried the work, what resistance came up, and whether the change outlived a turnover in staff. If they have not been anywhere for two years, ask what they expect to still be standing.
Instruction
How much of your week do you spend in classrooms, and what do you do while you are there?
Why ask it
Every candidate intends to be in classrooms and the office has a way of keeping them out, so ask about the week just gone. What they do in the room separates a visitor from an instructional leader: notes, a conversation with the teacher afterwards, and a pattern they can describe across several rooms.
You visit a lesson and it is not working. What happens in the next two days?
Why ask it
The answer to hope for is a conversation with the teacher that is prompt, private and specific about what students were doing. A reply that jumps to a formal write-up, or one that never reaches the teacher at all, tells you how feedback would feel in this building.
How would you go about raising reading or math achievement here?
Why ask it
Swap in whichever subject your own results show is weakest. A grounded answer starts with finding out what is being taught and how, before naming a program to buy. Then ask what they did about that subject where they work now and what the results did afterwards.
Tell us about a time student data changed what you or your teachers did.
Why ask it
Plenty of schools collect data and far fewer act on it. Press for the specifics: which assessment, who sat down with the results, and what was different in classrooms the following month.
Which numbers would you look at every week, and which only once a year?
Why ask it
Attendance, office referrals and course grades move fast enough to act on, while yearly test scores usually arrive too late to help the students who sat the test. A candidate who names only the yearly scores is steering by last year. Ask who else in the building sees the weekly figures.
The results show one group of students doing much worse than the rest. What do you do first?
Why ask it
Good answers begin by looking closer: which students, in which classes, and whether the gap shows in attendance and discipline as well as grades. After that, notice whether the candidate talks about changing what the adults do or only about adding help for the students.
How do you decide what training teachers get, and how do you check that it changed anything?
Why ask it
Training should follow from what was seen in classrooms, not from a catalog. Most answers thin out at the checking, so find out what they went and looked for a month after the session, and in whose rooms.
What is the principal's part in serving students with disabilities and students who are learning English?
Why ask it
The rules and the paperwork differ from place to place, so ask your district how it works here before the interviews. From the candidate, you want to know whether they sit in the meetings and know these students by name, or hand the whole area to a coordinator.
What should a teacher team meeting produce, and how do you know when one is working?
Why ask it
Many schools set aside time for teams and get calendar-sharing in return. Someone who has made the time count can describe what a team brought to the table, such as student work or a shared assessment, and what its members decided to do next.
A strong teacher wants to set aside part of the adopted curriculum for something of their own. How do you respond?
Why ask it
No single reply is correct, which is why the question works. It shows where the candidate draws the line between consistency and a teacher's judgment, and whether they would ask to see the idea and its results or simply rule on it. Check what your district requires before you weigh the reply.
Students and families
What is your approach to student discipline?
Why ask it
Expect a philosophy first, then ask about the last suspension they signed off on and what led up to it. The distance between the two answers is informative. Teachers on the panel will want to hear what support a teacher gets when a student is sent out, and parents will want to hear how they are told.
A teacher sends the same student to the office for the third time in a week. Walk us through what you do.
Why ask it
It tests whether the candidate sees a student problem, a classroom problem or both. A full answer includes talking with the student, the teacher and the family, and going to the class to see what happens before the referral.
What should the rule on students' phones be, and how do you get it enforced the same way in every classroom?
Why ask it
The rule itself may already be set by your state or district, so tell the candidate what is fixed here. Enforcement is the principal's part: a phone rule that most teachers apply and a few ignore falls hardest on the ones who apply it. Have them describe who took the phone, where it went and who called home at their current school.
A family says their child is being bullied and that the school has done nothing. What do you do that day?
Why ask it
The first move should be to hear the family and make the child safe, before defending the staff or the record. Reporting duties and timelines vary, so the detail belongs to your district's policy. What you can judge is urgency, and whether the family would hear back by a stated time.
How do you check that discipline is handed out evenly across different groups of students?
Why ask it
A candidate who has looked can tell you what the referral and suspension figures showed at their school and which classrooms or times of day stood out. If they have never broken the numbers down, that is your answer. Otherwise, ask what they changed once they saw the pattern.
Tell us about a discipline decision of yours that teachers disagreed with.
Why ask it
Every principal and assistant principal has one, so a blank is a concern in itself. What counts is whether they explained the decision to the staff, whether they would make it again, and how they speak now about the teachers who objected.
What have you done about students who miss a lot of school?
Why ask it
Letters home and consequences are the common answer and rarely the whole of an effective one. The better replies have someone finding out why each student is absent, since a bus problem, a sick parent and a student avoiding one class need different responses.
How would you find out whether students and staff feel this is a good place to be?
Why ask it
Hallway impressions flatter whoever is walking the hall. Look for more than one source: surveys, attendance, staff turnover, who eats lunch alone, what students say when asked directly. The real test is what happened the last time one of those sources told them something unwelcome.
How do students get to know you, and what have you learned from them that the adults had not told you?
Why ask it
Bus duty, the lunchroom and the bleachers are where students see a principal, but being seen is not the same as being told things. A true example of something learned from a student is usually small, like a bathroom nobody would use or a class everyone dreaded.
How do you keep families informed, and how do you hear from the ones who never come to the building?
Why ask it
Newsletters and an app cover the informing. Hearing from the absent families is harder and more telling: home languages, parents who work nights, families whose own time at school went badly. Ask what they tried that did not work.
A parent arrives angry and demands their child be moved out of a teacher's class today. What do you do?
Why ask it
Give this one to a parent on the panel. Look for a candidate who hears the parent out before deciding anything, talks to the teacher before answering, and says when the family will hear back. Promising the move on the spot and refusing it flat are both worrying.
Teachers and staff
How do you evaluate teachers, and what makes your feedback worth having?
Why ask it
The forms and ratings are usually set above the school, and yours may differ from the ones the candidate knows, so do not mark them on the system. Mark what they add to it: how soon the teacher hears back, how specific it is, and whether a teacher has ever taught differently because of it.
Tell us about a teacher who was struggling. What did you do, and how did it end?
Why ask it
The story should have a timeline: when they noticed, what help was offered, how long they gave it. Either ending is acceptable, a teacher who improved or one who left, but a long career with neither story suggests someone who looked away. No names are needed.
What do you look for when you hire a teacher, and how do you test for it?
Why ask it
Almost everyone says they hire for a love of children. The useful part is the method: a sample lesson, student work the applicant brings along, a question whose answers they have learned to trust. Ask how their last few hires turned out.
Why do good teachers leave schools, and what have you done that kept one from going?
Why ask it
Notice whether the principal appears anywhere in their list of reasons. The example should be a real person and a real action, such as a schedule changed, a role created or a long-standing problem finally dealt with. Staff turnover at their current school is a fair next question.
What does a first-year teacher get from you that a veteran does not?
Why ask it
New teachers are often handed the hardest schedule and the room nobody wanted. Listen for who the mentor is, how often the candidate stops in personally, and what comes off the newcomer's plate.
A respected veteran is openly against a change you are leading. What do you do?
Why ask it
Two things matter here: whether they go and talk to the person privately, and whether they can imagine the veteran being right. Candidates who speak only of getting people 'on board' may hear every objection as an obstacle. The teachers on your panel will have a strong sense of this answer.
Which decisions do you make on your own, and which do you bring to the staff?
Why ask it
Neither extreme works: a principal who decides everything alone uses up goodwill, and one who puts everything to a vote uses up the staff's evenings. Ask for one recent decision of each kind, and how teachers knew which kind it was.
What did you do the last time staff morale was low?
Why ask it
Treats in the lounge are a kindness, not an answer. The stronger replies name what was causing it, such as class coverage, student behavior or a pile of new initiatives, and something the candidate took away or fixed.
You would inherit assistant principals and an office staff you did not pick. How do you start with them?
Why ask it
Say first who is on the administrative team here, since some schools have no assistant principal at all. A careful answer finds out what each person does well before moving duties around, and it remembers the secretary and the head custodian, who often know how the building runs better than anyone. If one of those people applied for this job, ask how they would handle that as well.
If teachers here are represented by a union or association, how would you work with its building representative?
Why ask it
Skip this one where it does not apply. Where it does, hope to hear about a regular, plain working relationship in which problems are raised early, and ask your district what the agreement here covers so you can weigh the reply.
Budget and district
What part have you played in building and managing a school budget?
Why ask it
How much a principal controls differs widely between districts, so tell the candidate what this job controls and then ask. An assistant principal may have managed a single account, which is fine if they can say what they would need to learn and from whom.
Next year's budget is smaller than this year's. How do you decide what goes?
Why ask it
The order of the answer is the point. Notice what they protect first, who is in the room when the choices are made, and whether they have ever had to tell people about a cut face to face.
Enrollment falls and the school loses a teaching position. How do you choose where it comes from, and how do you tell the staff?
Why ask it
Who may be moved or let go is usually governed by contract and district rules, so the candidate cannot know your specifics. What you can hear is how they think about class sizes and course offerings, and whether the affected teacher would learn the news from them or from the rumor mill.
How do you build a school schedule, and what do you protect in it?
Why ask it
A schedule shows a school's priorities more honestly than its mission statement does. Ask what they refused to give up the last time, whether that was a reading block, team planning time or electives, and what it cost somewhere else.
How would you work with the school council, the parent organization and the other groups that have a say here?
Why ask it
Describe your own setup first, since what these bodies decide differs from school to school: some approve the budget or the improvement plan, others only advise. Then judge whether the candidate treats them as partners who hold real information or as an audience to be managed.
Tell us about a district decision you disagreed with. What did you do, and what did you say to your staff?
Why ask it
Superintendents and board members should ask this one themselves. You want someone who argues the point upward and in private, then carries the decision without blaming 'downtown' in the staff room. A candidate who has never disagreed has been either lucky or quiet.
What would you need from the superintendent and the district office to do this job well?
Why ask it
A thoughtful list is a good sign, because it means they have pictured the job. Take notes: a hire who asked for a mentor or a say in staffing and got neither will remember. Be honest about what you cannot offer.
Crisis and closing
What is the most serious crisis you have handled at a school, and what did you do in the first hour?
Why ask it
The first hour shows instincts: who they called, what they told staff, how they accounted for students. Follow with what that school does differently now because of it. Do not press for details of anyone's private tragedy, and if they have not led through a crisis, ask what part they played in someone else's.
Something has happened at school and rumors are on social media before you have the facts. What do you say, and when?
Why ask it
Silence until everything is confirmed loses the families, and guessing in public loses them faster. A sound answer is a short early message that says what is known, what is not, and when the next update will come. Find out beforehand who has to approve such a message in your district.
How do you prepare a school for an emergency before one happens?
Why ask it
Required drills and plans vary by place, and your district can tell you what they are here. Past the required minimum, the telling details are whether substitutes, lunch staff and after-school programs are included, and whether they have ever rewritten a plan because a drill went badly.
What is a mistake you made as a school leader that your staff knew about, and what did you say to them?
Why ask it
A principal's errors are public inside the building, so the test is the conversation afterwards more than the mistake. A real one has a cost that someone else paid, such as a schedule that fell apart in the first week or a family told the wrong thing. 'I work too hard' is a dodge, and it is fair to ask once more for a real one.
If we offer you this job, how long do you see yourself staying, and what would you want finished before you left?
Why ask it
A staff that has been through several principals in a short time tends to wait the next one out, which makes the planned length of stay a fair thing to raise. Honest ambition for a district job one day is no mark against a candidate who can name what they would see through first. Keep it about the work, and check with your human resources office which personal topics a panel should leave alone.
What questions do you have for us?
Why ask it
Leave real time for it, ten minutes or more. What a candidate asks about, whether the staff, the last principal or the district's support, shows what they would watch once hired. No questions at all, after an hour spent on a job this large, is worth noting.
How to run a principal interview as a panel
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the first candidate
Agree on what the school needs now
A school with falling reading scores, one with high staff turnover and one that is running well need different principals. Before reading any applications, have the committee name the two or three things the next leader must be good at, and weight the questions toward them. Without that step each member quietly interviews for a different job.
Find out the rules of the process
Who makes the final decision, which topics may not be raised with a candidate, and what happens to the committee's notes all depend on your district, your state and sometimes a contract. Ask the human resources office, or read the board's own policy, before the first interview. Settle what members may say outside the room as well: a candidate for a principalship usually has a job at another school whose staff do not know they are looking. Then brief every member, especially parents and others who have not sat on a hiring panel before.
Pick ten to twelve and assign them
An hour holds about ten questions once follow-ups are counted. Choose one or two from each group on this page, more from the area the school most needs, and give each to a named person: a teacher asks about evaluation, a parent asks about the angry parent, the superintendent asks about the district. Decide who handles follow-ups so the candidate is not questioned by six people at once.
Send candidates what you would want to know
Share the school's public data, the format of the day and who will be in the room. The interview is not a test of who can guess. A candidate who had the numbers for a week and still says nothing specific about them has told you something.
During the interview
Same questions for the candidate you already know
Principal searches often include someone the panel knows, such as the school's own assistant principal. Put the same main questions to every candidate in the same order, let only the follow-ups differ, and score what was said in the room, not what members remember from the hallway. It is the only fair way to compare answers afterwards, and it leaves a record of an even process if the choice is ever questioned. Ask the district how it wants panel members who report to a candidate to take part.
Ask what they did, then what happened
'How would you handle' invites a candidate to describe the principal they hope to be. 'Tell us about the last time' gets the one they have been. When a hypothetical is the only option, as with an assistant principal who has never run a budget, follow it with the nearest thing they have really done.
Use a real problem from your building
Take one true situation with the names removed: a grade level whose math results slid, a lunch period that keeps going wrong. Describe it and ask what they would want to know before acting. Candidates who ask good questions back tend to be the ones who would look before changing things.
If the day has several panels
Some searches run a teacher panel, a parent panel and a student panel on the same day. Divide the groups of questions between them beforehand, so the candidate is not asked about leadership style by every group and each panel asks about what it knows best. Have every panel write down what the candidate said they did and not a verdict: 'strong on discipline' cannot be compared a week later, checked with a reference or explained to the board.
Weighing the candidates
Rate privately, then talk
Have each member rate the answers privately before anyone speaks. With a superintendent or a board member at the table, parents and newer teachers tend to wait and then agree, and the range of views is the reason the committee was formed. Start the discussion with the questions where the ratings differ most. If the committee recommends and someone else decides, find out what that person wants from you: a ranking, or the strengths and concerns for each finalist.
Notice who gets the credit and who gets the blame
Across the hour, keep track of how often a candidate says 'we' about successes and 'they' about problems. Someone who describes former staff, families or a previous boss with contempt may one day describe your school the same way.
Take specific answers to the references
A reference asked whether someone was a good leader will say yes. Ask about the stories you heard: 'He told us he rebuilt the schedule to protect team planning time. What was your experience of that?' Teachers who worked under the candidate are worth hearing from where your process allows it.
Watch them do part of the job
Many searches add a task to the finalist round: watching a short lesson recording and giving the feedback they would give the teacher, reading a page of school data and saying what they see, or meeting a group of students. Twenty minutes of the work can settle what an hour of talk could not.
Common panel mistakes
Hiring the opposite of the last principal
After a distant leader, committees fall for warmth. After a soft one, they fall for toughness. The reaction can blind a panel to what the school needs next, so go back to the list you agreed on before the interviews began.
Mistaking fluency for skill
Interviews reward people who speak well for an hour, and the job rewards people who follow through for years. A quieter candidate with detailed stories that check out may be the stronger one. Let the evidence in your notes outweigh the feeling in the room.
Letting one topic take the hour
A panel with a recent discipline problem can spend forty minutes on discipline and learn nothing about instruction or money. Give one member the clock and the authority to move the group on.
Treating the interview as one-way
Strong candidates are choosing too, and they judge the district by how the panel behaves. Start on time, leave ten minutes for their questions, say what happens next and when, and tell them the hard things about the school plainly. A principal who accepts the job with a false picture of it starts at a disadvantage.