Questions to Ask in an Assistant Principal Interview
Questions for a candidate interviewing for an assistant principal post: how the work is divided between administrators, the real referral and observation load, evening duty, what the district decides rather than the school, and what the last person left unfinished.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How many assistant principals are there, and how is the work divided between you?
Why ask it
Division by grade level, by alphabet, or by function produces very different jobs. If nobody can describe the split, expect to absorb whatever the other administrators do not want.
How many discipline referrals does this school write in a typical week, and who handles them?
Why ask it
This number, more than anything in the posting, determines your calendar. Forty a week means you will be in your office with students and parents, not in classrooms.
How many formal teacher observations would I be responsible for this year?
Why ask it
Observation counts are usually set by contract or state rule, so the answer is a real number. Compare it to the number of weeks in the year and you will know whether instructional leadership is possible here.
Would I own the master schedule, testing coordination, or the duty roster?
Why ask it
Each of these is a job in itself, and each has a season that eats a month. Whoever holds the master schedule holds the most political task in the building.
What is chronic absenteeism running at, and what has already been tried?
Why ask it
Schools track this and report it publicly, so a vague answer means it is not being managed. What has been tried matters more than the rate, because it tells you whether you would be starting from zero.
How many teaching vacancies do you have right now, and how long have they been open?
Why ask it
Long-term vacancies mean coverage, substitutes, and administrators teaching classes. It is the fastest way to learn how much of your week will be spent filling gaps.
What does the principal expect me to decide without checking in?
Why ask it
The gap between what you think you can decide and what they expect is where an assistant principal gets into trouble in the first month. Ask for examples at the level of a suspension or a parent complaint.
How does the principal want to hear about a problem, and how quickly?
Why ask it
Some principals want a call before the parent calls them, others want a summary at the end of the day. Getting this wrong once, on something serious, defines your first year.
What happens on a day when the principal is out of the building?
Why ask it
Reveals whether you are acting head or simply covering the office. It also tells you how often that happens, which in some districts is one day a week.
Which decisions here go to the district office rather than the school?
Why ask it
Hiring, discipline appeals, budget moves, and program changes all sit differently across districts. Knowing the boundary stops you promising a family something you cannot deliver.
Where have relationships with the teachers' association been tested recently?
Why ask it
Contract language shapes what you can ask of staff, particularly around duty, meetings, and observation. A candidate who understands this is rare, and the answer tells you which battles are live.
How does the school handle a discipline decision that a family appeals?
Why ask it
Appeals are where an administrator's paperwork gets read closely by people who were not there. You want to know who reviews it, on what timeline, and whether administrators get supported or reversed.
What does the school do when a teacher and a parent are in open conflict?
Why ask it
This lands on the assistant principal almost every time. The honest answer describes a process; the worrying answer describes who usually gets asked to apologize.
How is special education staffed, and who runs IEP meetings?
Why ask it
If the answer is that the assistant principal chairs them, that is several hours a week plus legal exposure. Ask how many meetings a month and whether there is a coordinator to lean on.
What did the last staff or climate survey say, and what changed because of it?
Why ask it
Every school runs one. The second half of the question is the real test, because a survey that produced no visible change tells you how feedback is treated here.
Which group of students is furthest behind here, and what has been tried?
Why ask it
Asks for a specific group rather than a philosophy of equity. Schools that know the answer can name the group and the interventions; schools that cannot are not looking at their own data.
What was the previous assistant principal working on that is unfinished?
Why ask it
You inherit it whether or not it is mentioned. It also produces the most candid few sentences of the interview, because it requires talking about something that did not go well.
How long do assistant principals stay here, and where do they go next?
Why ask it
A pipeline to principalships and a revolving door look identical on paper. Ask for names and destinations over the last five years and the pattern is obvious.
What time do you leave, and how many evenings a week are you at school events?
Why ask it
Evening duty is the part of this job candidates underestimate most, and it is rarely written down. Asking the person in front of you about their own week gets a truthful figure.
At the end of the year, what would make you say this hire went well?
Why ask it
Gives you their evaluation criteria in their own words. If the answer is about the building feeling calmer rather than about test data, believe it, because that is what you will be judged on.
Preparing for an assistant principal interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What to look up first
The public data on the school
Enrollment, demographics, attendance, discipline rates, and test results are published by most state education agencies. Walking in already knowing the numbers lets you spend your questions on what has been tried instead.
Board minutes and the local paper
Minutes show what has been contested recently: a boundary change, a budget cut, a personnel matter, a policy fight. It is the cheapest way to learn what the panel is worried about.
The staff list over time
Archived school websites and staff directories show turnover, including in the administrative team. Three assistant principals in four years is a fact you can raise neutrally.
Ask about the load in numbers
- Referrals per week, and who else can handle them.
- Formal observations assigned to you this year.
- Evening events per week, and which ones are mandatory.
- Open teaching vacancies and how long they have been open.
- IEP and 504 meetings per month, and who chairs them.
- How many days a year the principal is out of the building.
What candidates get wrong
Talking only about instructional leadership
It is the part of the job everyone prepares for and often the smaller share of the week. A panel that has done this job notices when a candidate has not thought about buses, duty, and referrals.
Not asking what the principal wants decided without them
Assistant principals get into difficulty by deciding too much or too little, and the line is unwritten. Ask for two examples rather than a principle.
Treating the panel as one audience
Teachers, parents, and district staff on an interview panel want different things. Notice who nods at what, and direct follow up questions to the person whose answer you actually need.