Draft Principal Interview Questions

Campus data report provided to candidates at 5:00 pm the day before the interview. Questions:

1.What does the data tell you about student achievement in our school? What other key indicators would you focus on in your review of our school’s data?

2.Based on your findings, what would be your plan of action during your first two months as principal?

3.What challenges/barriers do you anticipate and how would you address those challenges?

4.What happens if your plan does not work? Let’s say it’s December and your interim assessment results do not show any changes or improvement in achievement levels or other key metrics. What will you do next? How will you communicate the current state and your proposed actions to the school’s stakeholders?

5.How will you ensure that your teachers and other instructional staff are effective in meeting the needs of all students? Based on your review of our current data, where do you perceive gaps or areas for improvement in instructional practice?

6.At the end of the day, what are your measures of success? How will you know if you have met your goals?

Schools tend to take on personalities of their own that are generally influenced by the leadership style of the building principal. Based on this, what would East Elementary look like if you were named principal?
When you visit a classroom, what are the first things you look for as signs that the classroom is an effective learning place?
In your estimation, what assessment strategies should be used in determining what a student knows and is able to do?
What are the major qualities you seek in a teacher?
How do you work with teachers and other staff to set targets for student learning in your school? How do you ensure that the goals you set are data-driven and maintain a high bar for success?
Before you make a recommendation to terminate someone, what factors would you take into consideration?
How might you use staff evaluation as a tool in order to help teachers and support staff develop new competencies and explore innovations in instruction?
If you became aware of a teacher that is having difficulty with instructional techniques and classroom management, what would you do to help?
What do you feel are the key components of maintaining high staff morale?
Creating a collaborative work environment is important in the professionalism of teaching. What strategies might you employ to help create a team at East Elementary?
As a new principal in a school, how would you go about building relationships of trust and collaboration with staff, parents, and students?
“At risk” is a term that is used frequently by educators to describe a targeted segment of the total school population. Please discuss with us your interpretation of this group of students and your experiences in working with this segment of students.

Describe your philosophy regarding parent communication and tell us what strategies would you use to engage them?

Written responses:

MANDATORY RESPONSES:

When you walk into a teacher’s classroom, what are five things you look for to indicate whether s/he understands the principles of high-quality instruction? If you observed a sample lesson from that teacher, what kinds of indicators would you look for in determining his/her level of instructional rigor?

As principal, would you establish a set of instructional “non-negotiables” for your teachers and staff? If so, what would they be? How would you work with staff to build their buy-in and consensus for these steps? What would you do if your staff did not believe in or implement these practices consistently in their classrooms?

SELECT AT LEAST ONE ADDITIONAL PROMPT:

Research indicates that retention of students is usually not successful. In what situations do you feel retention would still be justified?
Tell me what you would do if a parent claimed that his or her child was mistreated by a teacher?

How and what do you plan to communicate with central office administrators, in particular the superintendent?