8286264-featured-example-tutor
3 Best Principal Resume Examples and Templates for 2026
By Andrew Stoner
, Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach
Andrew Stoner
Last Updated:
August 8, 2026
Tip !
Hiring superintendents look for school-level achievement data and the budget and staff scope on the first page of a principal resume, because it shows whether the candidate can run a building under board scrutiny.
Featured Example
Why this resume works
- Numbers tied to student outcomes: Each role names a measurable shift (proficiency, absenteeism, retention) instead of generic leadership claims.
- Clear career progression: Department chair to AP to principal shows a logical climb that hiring committees can follow at a glance.
- Names the school context: Calling out Title I, enrollment size, and staff count signals the candidate has run a building at real scale.
Assistant Principal Example
The assistant principal archetype is a school leader 2 to 5 years into administration, often still finishing a building-level license. This resume needs to prove instructional coaching reach, discipline data you moved, and the slice of operations you owned under the principal.
Why this resume works
- Shows the AP-track pipeline: Dean to AP is a common path, and the bullets prove she did the work, not just held the title.
- Bilingual family work is concrete: Naming the parent academy and growth in attendance gives weight to the bilingual claim.
- Teacher coaching has a number: Walkthrough cycles tied to a rubric movement (2.7 to 3.4) prove coaching impact, not just activity.
Principal Example
The principal archetype runs a full building with budget, hiring, evaluation, and accountability authority. This resume needs to prove enrollment and staff scope, achievement or attendance gains under your tenure, and the compliance and culture systems you built.
Why this resume works
- Turnaround story with a date: Moving off the Comprehensive Support list in three years gives a hiring board a clear timeline of impact.
- Budget scale is named: A $9.4M operating budget and Title I figure show this leader can run finances at a real building level.
- Two principalships, two contexts: Elementary and high school leadership signal range, which matters for district-level or larger-school searches.
Text Version Principal
Jordan Pierce
Columbus, OH | (614) 555-0193 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/jordanpierce
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Building principal with 11 years of school leadership across urban middle and high schools. Strengths in instructional coaching, master scheduling, MTSS, and family engagement. Led two schools through turnaround cycles and supervised budgets approaching $7M. Hold Ohio Principal License (Grades 5-12) and a Master’s in Educational Leadership.
EXPERIENCE
Principal
Mapleton High School | Columbus, OH | 2020-Present
- Lead a 1,050-student comprehensive high school with 72 certified staff, 14 support staff, and a $6.8M operating budget.
- Raised four-year graduation rate from 74% to 89% by restructuring credit recovery and adding a 9th grade success team.
- Cut chronic absenteeism by 27 percentage points across three years through home-visit teams and weekly attendance reviews.
- Rebuilt master schedule to protect a daily 30-minute literacy block in grades 9-10 without losing elective offerings.
- Launched dual enrollment partnership with Columbus State; 184 students earned college credit in the first two years.
Assistant Principal
Riverbend Middle School | Cincinnati, OH | 2017-2020
- Supervised 6th and 7th grade teams (about 480 students) including instruction, scheduling, and discipline.
- Coached 24 teachers through formal evaluation; 19 met or exceeded growth targets in year three of coaching cycle.
- Led PBIS relaunch that reduced out-of-school suspensions by 44% over two school years.
- Coordinated state testing for 720 students with zero administration errors flagged by district audit.
- Managed Title I tutoring program supporting 160 students after school, four days a week.
Dean of Academics
Riverbend Middle School | Cincinnati, OH | 2015-2017
- Built and managed PLC structure across 5 grade-level teams; observed PLCs weekly and provided written feedback.
- Designed common formative assessment system in ELA and math used by all teachers in grades 6-8.
- Coached 9 new teachers in their first two years; retention rate of 8 of 9 at end of tenure.
Department Chair, English Language Arts
Glenway High School | Toledo, OH | 2013-2015
- Led 14-person ELA department through curriculum overhaul aligned to Ohio Learning Standards.
- Designed sophomore reading intervention that lifted state ELA proficiency from 52% to 68% in two years.
- Mentored three first-year teachers; all retained for year three.
High School English Teacher
Glenway High School | Toledo, OH | 2010-2015
- Taught grades 10-12 English including AP Literature; AP pass rate averaged 78% across four cohorts.
- Sponsored student newspaper that won two Ohio Scholastic Media Association awards.
- Served on School Improvement Team and led data review for ELA in the 2014 building plan.
EDUCATION
- M.Ed., Educational Leadership, Ohio State University, 2015
- B.A., English, Miami University (Ohio), 2010
- Ohio Principal License, Grades 5-12 (active through 2027)
SKILLS
- Instructional coaching and teacher evaluation (OTES 2.0)
- Master schedule design
- MTSS and PBIS implementation
- Title I budget management
- School improvement planning
- Family and community engagement
- Restorative practices
- Data analysis (state assessments, iReady, NWEA MAP)
- Crisis response and student safety
- Hiring and onboarding
Use this in our builder
Copied
How to Write a Principal Resume
01 Open with a profile that names your school scope
Your profile should state your years in school administration, the level you have led (elementary, middle, high, K-8), and the school setting (Title I, magnet, charter, independent, rural).
Name your enrollment size, staff headcount, and the band of your operating budget. Close with the one outcome you are known for, such as a multi-year reading gain, a graduation rate climb, or a turnaround status exit. Superintendents and district HR directors read this block first to decide if your school matches the opening.
02 Quantify achievement, budget, and scope
Strong principal bullets carry numbers. Name the school’s enrollment, your staff headcount, and the annual budget you managed, then attach 2 or 3 outcome metrics.
Use the data your state already publishes: proficiency rate shifts on state assessments, graduation or attendance percentages, suspension reductions, or chronic absenteeism declines. Bullets without a number tend to read as duties. A strong bullet pairs the action, the scale, and the change across a named time window, such as a 3-year tenure or a single school year.
03 Group your work into four leadership categories
Organize bullets under the categories Superintendents and district HR directors actually evaluate. Instructional leadership covers teacher coaching, walkthroughs, PLC facilitation, curriculum adoption, and MTSS or RTI systems.
Operations and compliance covers master schedule, Title I and IDEA compliance, IEP and 504 oversight, safety drills, and Clery or state reporting. Talent covers hiring, evaluation cycles, induction, and retention. Community covers family engagement, SIT or SAC meetings, and partnerships.
This structure helps reviewers map you to the job description fast.
04 Place credentials and tools on page one
Put your state administrator license and endorsement in a credentials block near the header, with the state and good-standing status. Do not list the license number on the resume itself.
Add your M.Ed. or Ed.S. in educational leadership, your teaching years, and any principal preparation program (NISL, NYC Leadership Academy, state cohort).
Name the systems you run: PowerSchool or Infinite Campus, Frontline or TalentEd for evaluations, Branching Minds or Panorama for MTSS. Superintendents and district HR directors need these visible early to clear the portal screen.
05 Cut what dilutes the leadership story
Cut teaching duties older than your last principalship unless they prove a content area the school needs. Cut bullets that describe meetings you attended rather than decisions you owned.
Trim coursework lists, conference attendance without a role, and committee memberships that produced no artifact. Keep the resume to 2 pages for veteran principals and 1 page for assistant principal candidates. Every bullet should answer what changed at the school because you were in the building.
Most Popular Skills on Principal Resumes for 2026
Based on data from our user-built principal resumes, the skill mix below is what gets callbacks from district HR. Pair the hard skills with named systems and use the soft skills as evidence behind achievement bullets.
| Soft Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Communication | 76% |
| Team leadership | 57% |
| Conflict resolution | 48% |
| Collaboration | 36% |
| Strategic planning | 35% |
And here are the top hard skills showing up most often.
| Hard Skills | % of resumes with this skill |
|---|---|
| Instructional leadership | 65% |
| Curriculum development | 59% |
| Budget management | 44% |
| Data-driven decision making | 40% |
| Staff evaluation | 35% |
Based on data from thousands of principals’ resumes built on ResumeTemplates.com, May 2026.
Must Have on a Principal Resume
Before a principal resume gets a closer read, hiring teams check for a short list of essentials.
Licensure Requirements
Your administrator license is the gate the application portal checks before a human reads anything. Place it in a credentials block near the header, not buried under education.
List the state, the license name (building-level administrator, principal certificate, K-12 administrator), and the endorsement level. Add good-standing status and renewal year.
Do not include the license number on the resume itself; provide it on the application form when the portal requests it. List your prior teaching certification and content endorsements below, since most districts want to see the classroom credential underneath the leadership one.
- State and license name with good-standing status
- Endorsement level (elementary, secondary, K-12, superintendent track)
- Renewal year and CE clock hours completed per state board requirements
- Prior teaching certification and content endorsements
- Principal preparation program completed (NISL, state cohort, university-based)
Classroom Management
Principal resumes are read for the systems you built around student behavior and special education, not the policies you inherited. Name the framework, the data, and the compliance posture.
- Name the behavior framework you run (PBIS, restorative practices, CHAMPS) and the year it launched
- Cite the suspension, referral, or chronic absenteeism shift across a named window
- State your IEP compliance rate and the audit posture under your tenure
- Note the MTSS or RTI tier structure and the intervention platform you use (Branching Minds, Panorama)
- Document Section 504 oversight and the number of plans you supervised annually
School Leadership Credentials That Get You the Job
Beyond your state administrator license, the certifications below tell Superintendents and district HR directors which leadership frames you can apply and which compliance areas you can run without coaching. List the certifying body, the year earned, and the renewal status for each item.
- National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) Executive Development Program: Signals you have completed a research-based principal preparation track that many large districts use as their internal leadership pipeline.
- National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT): Shows instructional credibility with your teaching staff and is weighted by districts that emphasize instructional leadership over operations.
- Restorative Practices Certification (IIRP or equivalent): Signals you can run a discipline approach that lowers suspensions, which districts under state equity scrutiny actively recruit for.
- Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) Nonviolent Crisis Intervention: Documents that you can lead staff training on de-escalation and physical intervention, a common ask in K-8 and special education settings.
Latest BLS Statistics for Principals
Principal is a narrow occupation in BLS, which means supply matters and a specific endorsement or turnaround track reads as differentiation. Pay clusters tightly within a district because step-and-lane schedules set most of the band, then the level (elementary, middle, high) and school size move you within it. State and district size shift the band more than any individual credential.
To position above the median, lead your resume with the school size, budget, and multi-year achievement movement you owned, not your years in the chair.
Where you stand
Entry tier
$72,400 to $104,070 At the entry tier, your resume needs to show your administrator license, your teaching years, and the assistant principal portfolio you led.Mid band
$104,070 to $165,820 At the mid band, lead with enrollment, staff headcount, budget managed, and 2 or 3 years of achievement or attendance data under your tenure.Top decile
$165,820+ At the top decile, your resume needs to show turnaround exits, multi-school or campus-of-campuses scope, and the principal preparation program you completed.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 |
Written by professional resume writers and loved by hiring managers
Resume Templates offers HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should an assistant principal applying for a principal role list teaching experience?
Yes, but compress it. Keep your teaching years visible in the credentials block and your most recent classroom role as a 2- or 3-bullet entry.
Use the saved space for assistant principal outcomes: discipline data you moved, teacher evaluation cycles you ran, and the slice of operations you owned.
How do I handle a principal license issued in a different state?
List the state and license name with good-standing status, then add a one-line note about reciprocity status with the target state.
Most state education agencies publish a reciprocity grid; name the pathway you are on (provisional, full reciprocity, additional coursework). District HR will not move forward without this signal.
How should I show test score growth without overclaiming?
Cite the state assessment by name and the proficiency rate shift across a named window. Frame it as the school's movement under your tenure, not your personal score.
If the school was in turnaround or improvement status, name the status exit instead of a raw percentage, since reviewers know the context carries weight.
How do I address a gap year after stepping out of a principalship?
Name the gap on the resume rather than hiding it with stretched dates. A single line works: instructional coaching contract, district office project, family leave, or doctoral coursework.
Superintendents read principal gaps with more nuance than corporate recruiters, but unexplained gaps stall the portal screen.
Which resume template works best for a principal?
For a 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.
Check Out Related Examples
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.
Build your Principal resume
Customize this template in our builder in under 10 minutes.