What Is a School Principal?
School principals are advanced education professionals in charge of managing elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the nation. They’re the final word in any number of issues related to the direction and tone of the school, from personnel decisions to curriculum inclusion to balancing budgets.
The job is a demanding mix of educator and manager, requiring someone willing to make difficult decisions in order to serve the good of the students and to work with concerned parents and fellow educators to make sure the school is performing up to the best standards.
School principals are also the point-people responsible for ensuring that their schools meet state and national testing standards, a position that allows them a large amount of input about the way the school and its classes will be run. Principals are also the public face of the school in city and local functions, and they can act as major players in fund-raising or informational events.
How to Become a School Principal
Becoming a school principal requires a serious amount of hands-on experience as an education professional and some top-tier schooling of your own to back it up. Many principals, if not most of them, start out as teachers themselves before transitioning into lower-level administrative positions (e.g., assistant principal) to get their feet wet in the management end before taking on the full responsibilities of the principal’s position.
As is probably obvious, a bachelor’s degree in education or a related management field is only the beginning. Many educators have graduate or doctoral degrees to their name, whether in a specific educational area, management, or child psychology. (These are just a few areas of study that can lead to being a principal.)
In addition, many states require education professional to be licensed, and these requirements vary by location and job title, so be sure to check them out before applying for any potential jobs as a principal.
School Principal Career Outlook & Salary
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment for school principals will grow about on par with the national average through 2018. There are several reasons for the continued growth: many districts are now placing administrative responsibilities with individual schools instead of the district board, which will increase the demand for forward-thinking principals, and there are a number of expected retirements in the next decade that will free up principal positions.
It’s also a very demanding job, and the attendant stress levels keep some teachers from even applying for principal or administrative roles, which also makes more room for those aspiring principals with the right amount of determination.
Salary is also tough to pin down, varying as it does with location, experience, and education level, but the BLS recorded that median 2008 income for high school administrators was $83,000, with half of those surveyed earning between $68,000 and $102,000.
