Education Resume Examples and Templates
3 Best Assistant Principal Resume Examples and Templates for 2026
By Andrew Stoner
, Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
Andrew Stoner
Last Updated:
July 8, 2026
Tip !
Superintendents and district HR directors decide whether to forward a resume to a building principal within the first third of page one; if the state administrator license, grade bands, and one instructional-outcome metric aren't visible there, the file moves to the no pile.
Featured Example
Why this resume works
- Numbers tied to student outcomes: Drops in absenteeism (22% to 13.4%) and gains in EOG math proficiency (51% to 64%) show direct impact on the metrics principals care about.
- Clear path from teacher to AP: The three-job arc, teacher to dean to AP at the same school, signals trust earned over time and deep knowledge of the building.
- Names the systems, not just the work: Mentioning MTSS, PowerSchool, PLCs, and EOG signals fluency with the tools district hiring panels expect an AP to run.
Entry Level Example
Use the entry-level tab if you are a department chair, instructional coach, or dean of students stepping into your first assistant principal role. This resume needs to prove a state administrator license in progress or earned, plus teacher-leadership scope that touched schoolwide systems.
Why this resume works
- Shows leadership before the title: Grade-level chair work and the administrative internship prove she has done AP tasks even though she has not held the role yet.
- One strong number stands out: Anchoring the internship bullet on a 6-point drop in chronic absenteeism gives the resume a real result, not just a list of duties.
- Certification status is easy to find: Listing the Oklahoma principal coursework in education makes it obvious to a screener that she meets the basic licensing requirement.
Experienced Example
Use the experienced tab if you have two or more years as an assistant principal and are targeting a larger building, a turnaround school, or a principal track. This resume needs to prove measurable gains in achievement, attendance, or discipline, along with teacher evaluation volume.
Why this resume works
- Big results across two roles: Algebra 1 passing up 24 points and out-of-school suspensions down 38% show he has produced results in both instruction and student services, the two main AP lanes.
- Ready for the next step: An Ed.D. in progress plus principal certification signal he is on the principalship track, which matches what districts hiring experienced APs want to see.
- Numbers a principal would ask about: Teacher counts (62 staff, 9 sports, 4 coaches), enrollment (1,480), and hires (22) tell a panel he has operated at high school scale.
Text Version Assistant Principal
Alana Brooks-Stiller
Lansing, MI | (517) 555-0163 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/alanabrooksstiller
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Assistant Principal with 9 years in K-12 school leadership across elementary and middle settings. Lead instructional coaching, MTSS, and family engagement at a 580-student Title I middle school. Reduced suspensions by 44% in three years through restorative practices and a redesigned tiered support system. Michigan principal-certified and currently pursuing K-12 superintendent endorsement.
EXPERIENCE
Assistant Principal
- Supervise and evaluate 32 teachers in grades 6-8 using the 5D+ rubric; complete 90+ formal observations annually.
- Co-lead a school turnaround plan that moved the building off the state’s Partnership District list in 2023.
- Rebuilt the MTSS team and process; behavior referrals dropped from 1,820 to 1,015 across two school years.
- Coordinate Title I parent engagement events and grew family attendance at curriculum nights by roughly half.
- Manage the master schedule, building substitute coverage, and the school’s $86,400 instructional supplies budget.
Instructional Coach (K-5)
- Coached 24 teachers across grades K-5 in literacy and math instruction.
- Led the rollout of LETRS training for the K-2 team; DIBELS composite scores rose 11 points in one year.
- Co-facilitated weekly grade-level PLCs and modeled small-group instruction.
- Served on the district literacy committee selecting a new core reading program.
Grade 5 Teacher and Team Lead
- Taught a self-contained Grade 5 classroom of 28 students; class ranked in the top three for math growth on M-STEP.
- Led the upper elementary team of 6 teachers and ran weekly data meetings.
- Mentored a first-year teacher who earned the district’s Rookie of the Year recognition.
- Coordinated the Grade 5 to middle school transition program with feeder schools.
Grade 3 Teacher
- Taught Grade 3 in a Title I charter setting with 90% free/reduced lunch.
- Led the school’s first family math night and grew it from 40 to 130 attendees.
- Served on the curriculum review committee for ELA adoption.
EDUCATION
- Ed.S. in K-12 Administration (in progress), Michigan State University, expected 2025
- M.A. in Educational Leadership, Western Michigan University, 2020
- B.S. in Elementary Education, Grand Valley State University, 2014
- Michigan Administrator Certificate (K-12), 2021
SKILLS
- Teacher evaluation (5D+ and Danielson)
- Instructional coaching cycles
- MTSS, PBIS, and restorative practices
- Master schedule design
- Title I program management
- Data analysis (M-STEP, NWEA, DIBELS)
- Family and community engagement
- Budget oversight and grant writing
- 504 and IEP collaboration
- School improvement planning
- Crisis response and safety drills
- PLC facilitation
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How to Write an Assistant Principal Resume
01 Open with a profile that names your instructional scope
Your profile should state your years in school administration, the grade bands you have served (K-5, 6-8, 9-12), and the school setting (Title I, magnet, charter, independent, turnaround).
Name the state where you hold your administrator license and the evaluation framework you use in teacher observations. Add one outcome line that gives the reader a scope anchor: enrollment size, free-and-reduced-lunch rate, or the achievement metric you moved.
Two or three lines is the right length. Superintendents and district HR directors read this block to decide whether you fit the building before they read your experience section.
02 Quantify student and teacher outcomes
Most strong assistant principal bullets carry a number. Hiring committees scan for movement in achievement, attendance, suspension rates, or teacher retention, not for lists of duties.
Name two or three real metrics from your building: percentage-point gains on state assessments, reduction in chronic absenteeism, drop in office discipline referrals, or growth in teacher retention year over year.
If your district restricts data sharing, use scope language instead: number of teachers evaluated, number of students in your caseload, or number of IEP meetings chaired. Bullets without a scope marker tend to read as duties.
03 Group your work into four leadership categories
Sort your bullets into the four buckets that match how principals divide the role: instructional leadership, school operations, student services and discipline, and family and community engagement.
Instructional leadership covers teacher observations, PLC facilitation, curriculum mapping, and data meetings. Operations covers master schedule, duty rotations, safety drills, and budget lines you owned.
Student services covers MTSS, IEP and 504 oversight, behavior interventions, and attendance teams. Family engagement covers parent communication, advisory councils, and community partnerships you built.
04 Place license, endorsements, and tools on page one
Build a credentials block under your profile that lists your state administrator license (principal, supervisor, or K-12 admin endorsement), the state, and the status (active, in progress with expected date).
Add your teaching license, content endorsements, and grade-band coverage. Name the evaluation framework you are trained in, plus the student information system (PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward) and assessment platforms (NWEA MAP, iReady, STAR) you have used.
Superintendents and district HR directors need these visible early because the applicant portal often filters on license type and endorsement code before a human reads the file.
05 Close with education and leadership development
End with your degrees in reverse chronological order: master’s in educational leadership or administration, bachelor’s in your content area, and any specialist (Ed.S.) or doctorate work.
List the principal preparation program or aspiring leaders cohort you completed, plus any state-required induction (mentor principal year, residency).
Add one or two recent professional learning anchors that signal where your practice is heading: instructional coaching certification, trauma-informed schools training, or a literacy or math leadership institute. Skip generic PD hours.
Most Popular Skills on Assistant Principal Resumes for 2026
The assistant principal resumes that get callbacks share a specific skill mix. The lists below come from our user-built assistant principal resumes. Superintendents and district HR directors scan for these patterns first, not generic leadership platitudes.
Hard skills carry the license, framework, and platform names that the portal filters on. Soft skills give the panel evidence to back up your observation and discipline bullets. Match both lists against the posting and use soft skills as the proof inside your bullets, not as standalone labels.
| Soft Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Leadership | 74% |
| Communication | 55% |
| Conflict resolution | 44% |
| Decision making | 35% |
| Time management | 29% |
And here are the top hard skills showing up most often.
| Hard Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Educational administration | 72% |
| Student discipline management | 61% |
| Teacher evaluation | 50% |
| Master scheduling | 38% |
| Curriculum development | 34% |
Based on data from thousands of assistant principals’ resumes built on ResumeTemplates.com, May 2026.
Must Have on an Assistant Principal Resume
Before an assistant principal resume gets a closer read, hiring teams check for a short list of essentials.
Licensure Requirements
The license block is what the application portal filters on first. Put it in its own section under your profile, not buried in education.
Where the license block goes
List your administrator license by its state-specific name (K-12 Principal, Supervisor, Administrative Services Credential), the issuing state, and the status with the expiration year.
Add your underlying teaching license and content endorsements. If you hold endorsements in special education, English learners, reading, or gifted, name them: districts code these into the posting and the screener checks for them.
- Administrator license: name, state, status, expiration year (no license number)
- Teaching license: state, content area, grade bands covered
- Endorsements: SPED, ESL/Bilingual, Reading Specialist, Gifted
- Reciprocity status if applying out of state, with the pathway named
- Principal preparation program completed, with the sponsoring university or organization
Classroom Management
Assistant principals own the daily discipline ledger and most of the building’s special education compliance work. Write these bullets so the panel sees both the system you ran and the data it moved.
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Chaired weekly MTSS team meetings covering Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for the building
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Oversaw IEP compliance for a caseload of students across the grade bands you serve
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Led PBIS or restorative practices implementation with measurable change in referrals or suspensions
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Managed behavior intervention plans (BIPs) and functional behavior assessments (FBAs) with the school psychologist
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Ran threat assessment, re-entry, and manifestation determination meetings per district protocol
Niche Keywords for ATS Checkers
Superintendents and district HR directors expect to see the grade band, the evaluation framework, and the program area written into your resume the way they appear in postings. Group the terms below by what the building actually needs.
| Niche | Keywords ATS scans for |
|---|---|
| Building leadership scope | assistant principal, vice principal, dean of students, K-12 administrator |
| Instructional leadership | teacher evaluation, Danielson framework, Marzano, PLC facilitation, instructional coaching |
| Student services and compliance | MTSS, RTI, IEP oversight, 504 plans, special education compliance |
| Discipline and culture | PBIS, restorative practices, behavior intervention, school safety drills |
| School operations | master schedule, Title I, PowerSchool, NWEA MAP data |
School Administration Credentials That Get You the Job
Superintendents and district HR directors read this list as a map of where your leadership is heading. The certifications below tell them which track you have invested in: instructional coaching, special education, English learners, or principal pipeline. List each item with the issuing body and the year completed.
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National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) Executive Development Program: Signals a principal-track investment and is recognized by many state departments as principal preparation aligned to PSEL standards.
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Cognitive Coaching Foundation Seminar: Carries weight when the posting names instructional coaching, PLC facilitation, or teacher development as a core function.
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Director of Special Education or SPED Supervisor Endorsement: Add this when the building has a high IEP caseload or the role oversees self-contained programs and related services.
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ESL or Bilingual Education Endorsement: Strengthens applications in districts with growing English learner enrollment and dual-language programs at the building level.
Latest BLS Statistics for Assistant Principals
Pay for assistant principals concentrates in unexpected places. The top-paying states cluster in dense, high-cost suburban belts and a few rural states with administrator shortages, not in the southern and mountain-west metros candidates often assume lead the field. The employment numbers tell a different story: the largest hiring states are the high-population systems where turnover runs annually across hundreds of buildings.
If you are geographically flexible, your resume should foreground the state administrator licenses you hold (or can earn through reciprocity) and the grade bands that match the target district.
Where you stand
Entry tier
$72,400 to $104,070 At the entry tier, lead with your state administrator license status and the teacher-leadership scope you carried (department chair, instructional coach, dean).Mid band
$104,070 to $165,820 At the mid band, your resume needs to show evaluation volume, the framework you use, and one outcome metric you moved in achievement or attendance.Top decile
$165,820+ At the top decile, lead with building size, turnaround or Title I results, principal-pipeline cohorts you completed, and teachers you placed into leadership.Top-paying states
| # | State | Avg. Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | $161,090 |
| 2 | California | $151,890 |
| 3 | Connecticut | $146,460 |
| 4 | New York | $137,870 |
| 5 | New Jersey | $137,260 |
| 6 | District of Columbia | $133,720 |
| 7 | Delaware | $129,890 |
| 8 | Oregon | $129,020 |
| 9 | Maryland | $127,620 |
| 10 | Massachusetts | $127,570 |
Highest-employment states
| # | State | Workers | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 35,900 | $86,330 |
| 2 | California | 33,400 | $151,890 |
| 3 | New York | 19,300 | $137,870 |
| 4 | Florida | 15,900 | $87,780 |
| 5 | Illinois | 15,050 | $108,560 |
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long should an assistant principal resume be?
Two pages is the standard for assistant principal candidates with three or more years in administration. One page works for first-time applicants coming out of a teacher-leader role.
Use the second page for evaluation volume, school improvement metrics, and committee work, not for older teaching duties.
Should I list my state administrator license number on the resume?
No. List the license type, the state, the endorsement, and the status (active, expiration year).
State boards and district HR offices recommend keeping the actual number off the public document. You will enter it on the application portal where it belongs.
What does a strong assistant principal resume look like when I have no administrator experience yet?
Lead with the teacher-leader scope that touched the whole building: department chair, instructional coach, PLC lead, MTSS team chair, or dean of students.
Name the number of teachers you supported, the data you analyzed, and the schoolwide systems you helped run.
Pair it with your principal preparation program and admin license status near the top.
How do I write the resume if I am applying across state lines?
Name your current state license and the reciprocity pathway in the same line, for example, "K-12 Principal license, Ohio (active); Indiana reciprocity application in progress."
District HR offices need to see you understand the portability question before they call.
What's the best resume template for an assistant principal?
For an assistant principal, a professional template is the safest pick, because it signals the polish hiring managers in this field expect. An ATS-friendly template is a solid alternative. Whichever you choose, keep the formatting clean and easy to parse: clear section headings, a standard font, and no graphics a parser can choke on.
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Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.
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