Questions to Ask Principals
Questions to ask a principal as a parent, whether you are on a school tour, at a first meeting, or coming in because something has gone wrong for your child. They serve equally as questions to ask school administrators with other titles, since an assistant principal, a head of school or a dean of students often takes the meeting. The 63 questions are grouped by what they are about: the school and the person running it, the classroom, support, behavior and safety, how parents are kept informed, and what to settle before you choose.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The school
How long have you been principal here, and what did you change first?
Why ask it
The first change a principal made says what they thought was most broken. A principal in their first year has inherited everything, which changes how much weight to give the rest of their answers.
What is your vision for this school, and what are you doing this year to get there?
Why ask it
The vision is the easy half, so listen hardest to the second. A goal with a measure attached, such as attendance up by a set amount or every second grader reading at grade level, is one you can ask about again in June. If it all sounds like the banner in the lobby, ask which goal the principal would keep if only one could survive.
What makes this school different from the others a family around here could pick?
Why ask it
Listen for something you could see on a visit: a longer lunch, a daily advisory period, a music teacher who has been there fifteen years. An answer that would fit any school's brochure suggests nobody has had to decide what this school is for.
How would you describe the culture here, and which students does it suit best?
Why ask it
Most schools suit some children better than others: the self-starters, the athletes, the quiet ones who like a routine. If the description sounds nothing like your child, that is worth more than a ranking, and the natural follow-up is who finds it hard here.
What is the hardest thing about running this school right now?
Why ask it
Asked without an edge, this usually gets a straight answer: unfilled posts, the budget, attendance, a dispute in the community. Whatever it is will be taking the principal's attention this year, so ask what it has pushed down the list.
What are you proudest of from the last year here?
Why ask it
An easy one to answer, and the choice is telling: a test result, a new building, a child who turned a year around. Notice whether the pride is in something the students did or in something the school was given.
How do you judge whether the school is doing well, apart from test scores?
Why ask it
Whatever the principal names here is what gets watched: attendance, how many children read for pleasure, referrals to the office, a parent survey. Follow up by asking what the latest figure was. A measure nobody can quote is not really being tracked.
How did the school do on its most recent state or national tests, and what changed because of the results?
Why ask it
Results are public in many places, so look them up first and spend the meeting on the second half. A principal who can say which grade or subject disappointed them, and what was done about it, is using the data and not just reporting it.
How much of your week is spent in classrooms, and what do you notice when you are there?
Why ask it
Principals who are in rooms most days can tell you what third grade is working on this month without checking. If the answer is mostly meetings and paperwork, the person to question about teaching is probably an assistant principal or a grade lead.
How do you support your teachers, and what do they ask you for most often?
Why ask it
A principal's work reaches your child mostly through the teachers, which is why this belongs on a parent's list. The second half is the test: planning time, an aide, training in the new reading program. A principal who can name the request offhand has been listening to the staff.
What do you look for when you hire a teacher?
Why ask it
The qualities named first are the ones this principal protects: subject knowledge, warmth with children, a calm room. Follow with how many openings there were last summer and whether each was filled by the first day, since a careful hiring philosophy counts for little in a year when few people apply.
What do parents complain about most, and what have you done about it?
Why ask it
To answer at all, the principal has to name a weakness: the car line, slow replies to email, too much homework in fourth grade. One complaint with a change attached is more convincing than a school where nobody can think of any.
Which school administrators besides you would my child and I deal with, and what does each one handle?
Why ask it
In a larger school an assistant principal may run discipline, a dean attendance, and someone else the timetable, so knowing who owns what sends your email to the right desk the first time. Where the principal turns out to be all of those people, you have learned how thinly their week is spread.
Which decisions are made in this building, and which come from the district or the board?
Why ask it
Calendars, boundaries, curriculum and much of the budget are often settled above the school, though the split differs by district and country. Hearing where the line falls here keeps you from pressing a principal on something only a superintendent or a board vote can change.
The classroom
Can you walk me through the schedule for my child's grade, from the first bell to the last?
Why ask it
A schedule shows priorities that a mission statement cannot: how many minutes of reading, where lunch falls, whether science happens daily or on Friday afternoons. Take a copy home and count how many times in the day the class changes rooms or adults.
How is reading taught in the early grades here?
Why ask it
Get the name of the program and how children are taught to sound out words. The answer that matters most is what happens for a child still not reading at grade level by the end of first grade: who works with them, how often, and for how long.
Which math program do you use, and how long has the school been using it?
Why ask it
Length of use matters as much as the name. A program in its fourth year has teachers who know where children trip up, while one adopted last August is still being learned by the adults. Looking at one unit shows you what will come home in the backpack.
What do teachers do here with a student who is bored, and with one who is behind?
Why ask it
Asking both together shows whether one half has had less thought. Help for the child who is behind often comes with a named program and a slot in the week, so listen for whether the child who finishes early gets anything beyond a harder worksheet or a book to read quietly.
How are students grouped for instruction, and can that change during the year?
Why ask it
A reading or math group set in September and never revisited becomes a track in all but name. Find out what would move a child up or down, a test, a teacher's judgment or a parent's request, and how often anyone looks.
Is there a gifted or advanced program, and how are children chosen for it?
Why ask it
The selection method decides who gets in. Find out whether every child is screened or only those a teacher or parent puts forward, at what age, and whether a child who misses the cut can be looked at again. Rules differ between districts, so get this school's version in writing.
How much homework should I expect in my child's grade, in minutes a night?
Why ask it
A figure in minutes is one you can hold up against real evenings in October. It also shows whether the school has a homework policy at all or leaves it to each teacher, in which case the answer changes every year.
How are screens and devices used in lessons, and from what age?
Why ask it
Get a rough number of minutes a day for your child's grade, then ask what the screen replaced. A tablet standing in for a worksheet changes little, while one standing in for a teacher's small reading group changes a lot. Check too whether devices go home and who pays if one breaks.
Which subjects are taught by specialists, and which by the class teacher?
Why ask it
Art, music, PE and languages are the usual ones, and the detail is in how often: weekly all year is not the same as a few weeks on a rotation. It is also fair to ask whether those lessons are the first to be cancelled when testing or an assembly eats into the week.
How many children would be in my child's class, and how many adults are in the room?
Why ask it
The second half changes the first: thirty children with a teacher and a full-time aide is a different room from twenty-four with one adult. Ask for the number in your child's grade this year, because a school-wide average can hide one crowded grade.
How do you decide which teacher a child gets, and can parents make a request?
Why ask it
Policies run from named requests to a short form about your child's needs to no input at all. Knowing the rule and its deadline in spring spares you an awkward email in August. Where requests are not taken, ask what the school weighs when it builds a class: friendships, behavior, a balance of needs.
How many teachers left last year, and how many are new to teaching?
Why ask it
Ask where the leavers went, because three retirements and three moves to the school down the road are different stories. Then ask whether any class in your child's grade started this year without a permanent teacher.
What happens to a class when its teacher is out sick?
Why ask it
A day with a substitute is ordinary, so listen for the fallback when none can be found: children split among other rooms, an aide left in charge, the principal covering the class. Ask how often it came to that last year.
Support
If my child starts struggling here, what will I see from the school before I have to ask?
Why ask it
It separates a school where a slipping child is caught by a system from one where they are caught by a watchful parent. A full answer names who contacts you, after what sign, a failed test or three missed assignments, and how soon.
If I think my child needs an evaluation, what is the process and how long does it take?
Why ask it
Deadlines for evaluations are often set by law and differ by country and state, so ask what they are here and what starts the clock. A principal should be able to name the person who handles requests and a rough number of weeks. If they cannot, ask where a written request should be sent.
If my child comes with a support plan, who makes sure every one of their teachers has read it?
Why ask it
What the plan is called depends on where you live (in the United States it is usually an IEP or a 504 plan), and so do the rules around it, so ask how it works at this school. You are after one named person, and how substitutes, specialists and next year's teacher get told. Bring a copy so nobody has to go looking for it.
What does the counselor or social worker do here, and how many students do they cover?
Why ask it
The ratio tells you what the job can be. One counselor for several hundred students is likely spending the week on schedules and emergencies, so ask how a child who is simply having a hard month would get seen, and whether that person is in the building every day.
How do you support a child who speaks another language at home?
Why ask it
Two things to pin down: whether help comes inside the classroom or by pulling the child out, and which lesson gets missed if it is the second. It is worth hearing as well how the school talks to parents who are still learning English. Translated letters and an interpreter at meetings show a school that has thought about the whole family.
What do you do for a child who starts here knowing nobody?
Why ask it
Good answers are small and specific: a buddy for the first two weeks, a lunch table arranged in advance, a teacher who calls home on the first Friday. "Children adapt quickly" is a hope. It matters most for a child joining mid-year, when everyone else already has a seat.
What are children taught about friendships, feelings and handling conflict, and when in the week does that happen?
Why ask it
A named slot on the schedule means someone owns it. When the answer is that it runs through everything the school does, press gently for an example from last week. You can also ask what words your child will come home using, so you can use the same ones at the dinner table.
What happens when a child starts missing a lot of school, or refuses to come in?
Why ask it
You are listening for who calls, after how many absences, and whether the first contact is an offer of help or a formal letter. The legal thresholds belong to the district or state, so ask what they are locally. For an anxious child, ask whether shorter days or a quiet arrival have ever been arranged.
How do you handle allergies, medication and a child who falls ill during the day?
Why ask it
Find out whether there is a nurse in the building every day or one shared between schools, where medication is kept, and who is trained to give it. If your child carries an inhaler or an auto-injector, ask to meet the adult who would actually be reaching for it.
Behavior and safety
When a child tells an adult here they are being bullied, what happens next?
Why ask it
Have the principal walk through the most recent case, names left out, in place of the policy. Listen for whether both families were called, whether anything was written down, and whether anyone checked on the child two weeks later.
What do you do about a child who is being left out rather than picked on?
Why ask it
Being left out breaks no rule, so it rarely reaches the office the way a fight does. A principal who can talk about lunch seating, how partners get picked in class, or one adult asked to keep watch has people looking for it.
What does the school do when students are unkind to each other online, outside school hours?
Why ask it
Schools split on whether this is their business. Some call both families the next morning, and others say it happened off the grounds and stop there. Hearing which kind this is tells you in advance whether to bring the screenshots to the office or to phone the other parent.
What is the behavior system in classrooms, and is it the same in every room?
Why ask it
Clip charts, points, a quiet word, a call home: ask what your child would actually experience on a bad day. A system that changes with each teacher means relearning the rules every September.
How is serious misbehavior handled, and how often do students get suspended?
Why ask it
Ask for last year's number and which way it is moving. A high figure and a figure near zero both need a second question: what happens instead, and where a child goes when they are sent out of a lesson. Suspension rules are often set above the school, so ask which part is the principal's call.
What are the rules about phones during the school day, and how are they enforced?
Why ask it
The written rule is easy to find, so ask about the second time a phone comes out: taken until the last bell, held for a parent to collect, or a reminder and nothing more. In some places the rule now comes from the state or district, in which case the question is how this school applies it.
How long are recess and lunch, and can recess be taken away as a consequence?
Why ask it
Get the minutes for your child's grade and how much of that is outdoors, including what happens when it rains. Parents feel strongly both ways about a child losing recess for unfinished work or misbehavior, so find out whether that is school policy or each teacher's call.
Who is supervising the children at recess, at lunch and on the bus?
Why ask it
The loosest minutes of the day are where small troubles tend to start. Find out how many adults are outside, and whether they are staff who know the children by name or aides hired for the lunch hour who may not. If your child rides the bus, ask who a driver reports a problem to.
What does safety look like here in practice: doors, visitors, drills?
Why ask it
On the way in you saw part of the answer for yourself: whether the door was locked, who asked your name, whether you were handed a badge. The part you cannot see is how drills are explained to children in your child's grade, which says as much about the school's judgment as the hardware does.
Parents
How do I find out how my child is doing between report cards?
Why ask it
Look for something on a schedule: grades posted to a portal, a folder that comes home weekly, conferences in fall and spring. If the answer is that teachers reach out when there is a problem, you will be finding out late.
How does the school send news to parents, and which channel is the one that counts?
Why ask it
An app, a weekly email, a paper letter in the backpack and a class group chat add up to missed permission slips. One official channel is the answer you want. Then ask how an urgent message goes out, a closure or a lockdown, and how quickly it reached parents the last time.
How can parents get involved here, and what do you most need help with?
Why ask it
What the principal needs tells you where the school is stretched: reading volunteers, lunch cover, someone to run the book fair. Ask what there is for parents who work during the day, and whether help is welcome inside classrooms or only at events. If there is a parent association, ask what it last decided, not just what it raised.
Which programs come out of the school's own budget, and which depend on fundraising?
Why ask it
Anything a parent group pays for can vanish in the year its volunteers move on. Once you know which side of the line the music teacher, the classroom aides and the field trips fall on, you know what is likely to still be here in three years.
Who do I talk to first when I have a concern, and what happens if that does not resolve it?
Why ask it
Many schools want the teacher first, then a counselor or assistant principal, then the principal, but get this school's order and how long to wait at each step. If nobody can describe step two, expect every unresolved problem to sit in the principal's inbox.
What has the school already tried with my child, and what happened when it did?
Why ask it
One for a meeting about a problem, and best asked before you give your own account. You may learn of steps nobody mentioned, in which case communication is part of what needs fixing. If nothing has been tried, you now agree on the starting point.
If this happens again, what will be different from the first time?
Why ask it
It tests whether the meeting has changed anything. A real answer names a new step: a different adult told, a seat moved, a call home the same day. "We will keep an eye on it" describes what was already happening, so ask who will be doing the watching and when you will hear from them.
What is the best way to reach you, and how soon should I expect a reply?
Why ask it
Better asked at the end of a first meeting than in the middle of a crisis. A principal who gives a direct email and a realistic wait, a couple of school days, is easier to work with than one who promises an open door. Ask who covers when they are out of the building.
Before you choose
How does enrollment work here: an attendance zone, a lottery, a waiting list?
Why ask it
Admission rules depend on the district, the country and the type of school, so collect the dates and criteria on paper instead of trusting memory. The telling number is how many seats opened in your child's grade last year. A school with none is not yet an option, whatever the tour was like.
What will families be asked to pay for during the year, and what does it add up to?
Why ask it
Supplies, field trips, a uniform or spirit wear, an instrument, a device fee, the fundraiser everyone is expected to join: the total is rarely written down in one place. Ask for a rough yearly figure for one child, and what the school quietly does for a family who cannot manage it.
What before-school and after-school care is there, and is there a waiting list?
Why ask it
For a working household this can settle the choice before anything about teaching does. Get the hours, the price, who runs it, and what happens at one minute past closing. Places are sometimes gone by spring, so ask when sign-up opens for the year your child would start.
What clubs, sports and activities run after school, and do they fill up?
Why ask it
A long list on the website can shrink to three clubs with room left in them. Find out who runs them, staff or outside providers, what they cost, and whether a child who joins in January has any chance of a spot.
Which schools do most of your students move on to, and how do you find out how they did?
Why ask it
Naming the schools is the easy half. A principal who hears back, from the next school or from the families, can tell you what its former students found hard in their first year there and whether anything here was changed because of it.
Is anything big changing next year: staffing, buildings, boundaries, budget?
Why ask it
You are touring this year's school and enrolling in next year's. A merger, a building project or a redrawn boundary can alter the daily experience more than anything you were shown. It is fair to ask the principal whether they expect to be here too.
What would make you tell a family this isn't the right school for their child?
Why ask it
A principal who knows the school's limits can answer: no elevator, no full-time nurse, no way to offer a much smaller class. If the answer is that the school suits everyone, describe what your own child finds hardest and ask what a day here would be like for them.
Is there a school event or parent meeting I could come to before we decide?
Why ask it
At a concert, a Friday assembly or an ordinary parent association meeting you meet families the school did not pick for you. Stand at the back and listen to what parents talk about among themselves, then ask one of them what they wish they had known in their first year.
Could I come back and sit in on a lesson on an ordinary day?
Why ask it
The answer is a yes or a reason, and both are informative: some schools turn down classroom visits for privacy or safety, which is fair. If you do get in, watch the children more than the teacher, especially what they do when they finish early or get stuck.
What do you wish more parents asked you?
Why ask it
Save it for last, because the principal chooses the subject. What they pick is often the thing they are working hardest on, or the thing families tend to get wrong about the school.
Talking with a Principal
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Which questions for which meeting
On a group tour, pick three
Nobody gets through a list this long in one visit, and a tour is shared with other families. You will mostly hear the school's case for itself, so spend the time looking around and choose three from The school and Before you choose. Favor the ones with a number in the answer: children in a class, teachers who left, seats that opened last year.
At a one-to-one before enrolling
This is where The classroom and Support earn their time. Start with the schedule for your child's grade and what happens for a child who is bored or behind, then spend the rest on whatever is particular to your child: a language, an allergy, a support plan, a shy start.
When your child is already at the school
Skip the choosing questions and go to Parents and to Behavior and safety. You already know how the place feels. What you are after now is how it works: who to contact, how news reaches you, what happens the second time something goes wrong.
When you are there about a problem
Three questions carry the meeting: what the school has already tried, what will be different if it happens again, and how to reach the principal afterward. Leave the general ones for another day so the meeting stays on your child.
When another school administrator takes the meeting
An assistant principal or a dean of students is often closer to the detail than the principal is: the discipline log, the attendance calls, the timetable. Put the questions from Support and from Behavior and safety to them as written, and hold the ones about vision, hiring and next year's changes for the principal.
Picking the right moment
Book a time for anything about your own child
A word in the hallway or the car line gets a quick answer and nothing written down. Ask the office for twenty minutes and say what it is about, so the principal can look at your child's file before you arrive.
Send your questions in advance
If you want turnover figures, suspension counts, or evaluation timelines, email them a day ahead. You will get looked-up answers instead of estimates, and the meeting can be spent on what those numbers mean.
Start with the teacher unless it is a school-level issue
Concerns about a class, a grade, or a friendship belong with the teacher first. A principal who hears it first will usually send you back to the teacher, who by then has heard about it secondhand.
Reading the answers
- Ask for the last case, not the policy. "How was the most recent bullying report handled" gets you further than "what is your bullying policy."
- Numbers you can check later are worth more than descriptions: minutes of homework, students per counselor, teachers who left, weeks to an evaluation.
- Notice whether the principal names people or only departments. A system that works usually has a specific person attached to it.
- "I don't know, I will find out" is a good answer if the reply arrives. Note what was promised and see whether it comes.
- Put the same question to two or three current parents the school did not pick for you, starting with what happens when a child struggles.
If you are coming in about a problem
Put the facts in writing beforehand
Dates, what happened, who was involved, and what you have already tried. It keeps the meeting on the facts and stops it from becoming a disagreement about what was said.
Ask for one specific outcome
Name what you want: a schedule change, a meeting with a specialist, a plan reviewed in three weeks. Meetings that end with sympathy and no action tend to repeat.
Close by confirming who does what and by when
Repeat the next steps out loud before you leave and send a short email summarizing them the same day. A dated summary is what makes follow-up possible.