Poor principal quality is the top reason behind teacher turnover. When a school’s principal is a strict disciplinarian, yet compassionate, supports the staff, and maintains a positive school culture where everybody feels appreciated and safe, teacher turnover will reduce. The central office, which hires principals, needs to ask the correct interview questions to ensure they choose an effective leader every time, like clockwork. Given below are 33 questions that will help them find quality principals.

General 

1.     What motivates you to be a school principal?
2.     How would you describe a successful school principal in three words?
3.     If you’re hired, what would you do at first?
4.     What’re your expectations from teachers and staff members?

Students’ Knowledge

1.     Have you worked with students in this age group earlier? If yes, share your experiences.
2.     Let us know how you dealt with a student who was a danger to his peers and the school’s staff.
3.     How would you handle a complaint against a teacher filed by a group of students?

Teaching and Learning

1.     Did you contribute or lead a curriculum development team?
2.     How did you make sure your instructional pace was adequate to cover the entire curriculum standards before the school year’s end?
3.     What’s your approach to schoolwide discipline?
4.     What classroom management strategies were successful for you?
5.     What’s your education assessment philosophy?

Hiring, Personnel, and Induction

1.     What experience do you have with recruiting teachers and other important staff members?
2.     How would you address the worry of those teachers who feel inadequately supported by their principal?
3.     How do you help novice and new teachers create their instruction? 
4.     Share what reaction you faced when you gave negative feedback to a veteran educator. Was there pushback? If yes, how did you manage it?

Budget, Facilities, School Safety

1.     What’s your experience with school budget management? Are you at ease reducing budgeted expenditures, budget monitoring, and fiscal resource reallocation to address students’ requirements?
2.     What’s your experience with the school building and facility management?
3.     Do you know the school safety protocols well?

Public Relations and Parent Communication

1.     What’s your experience with increasing parental involvement at a school?
2.     How involved have you been in extracurricular activities?
3.     Are you at ease giving speeches and presentations to community stakeholders?
4.     Share what happened when you had to apply your know-how of school law.
5.     If a child is misbehaving, when will you involve his (or her) parents?
6.     What steps will you take to boost the school’s bond with the community?

Vision, Leadership, Professionalism

1.     What’s your vision for this school?
2.     Do you possess any leadership experience?
3.     How will you grade yourself as a disciplinarian?
4.     What’s your professional development plan? How do you stay updated with existing and emerging trends in education?
5.     How do you empower your teachers?
6.     What impression does this school give you? Which areas do you think we can build upon?
7.     Share what happened when you had to make an unpopular decision. How did you deal with the backlash and pushback?

That’s the end of this list. Don’t forget to share how it helped.