Did You Know?
A principal is part coach, part problem-solver, part counselor, and part community connector, often switching between all four roles within the same hour.
How to Get Started
Getting started on the path to school leadership begins with caring about people and paying attention to what makes groups work well together. Helping others, taking the initiative, and thinking about fairness and inclusion are all early signs of a future leader. The path from student to principal is long and full of learning, but every classroom you sit in, every team you are part of, and every problem you help solve is building the foundation.
Explore the Basics
Learning about what a principal does can start right in your own school. Ask your principal or assistant principal if you can interview them for a class project or school newspaper. Come prepared with questions about what their favorite part of the job is, what a typical day looks like, and what they wish every student knew about running a school. You might be surprised how much is happening behind the scenes every single day.
Try It Out
Start a kindness journal where you write about one thing each day that made your school or neighborhood feel like a better, more welcoming place, and one idea for something you could do to improve it. Think like a principal: What would make your school safer, fairer, or more fun? Write your ideas down and share them with a trusted adult or teacher. Great school leaders start by noticing what is working and imagining what could be better.
Join the Community
Run for student council, help organize a school event, or volunteer to be a peer helper or classroom buddy. These experiences put you in a leadership role where you practice listening to others, solving small conflicts, and taking responsibility for a group's success. Ask your teacher or principal if there are any leadership or helper programs at your school you can join.
How to Become a School Principal
Explore more resources for a future School Principal
Jaime Escalante: Inspirational Math Teacher
Schraff, Anne E
Why We Picked It
Career Connection
School principals set the high expectations and provide the administrative support that allow exceptional teachers to achieve the extraordinary, and Escalante's story shows what becomes possible when a school culture genuinely believes every student can succeed.
The Nation's Choice: Theme Paperbacks on Level Theme 5 Grade 6 Jaime Escalante
Houghton Mifflin Company
Why We Picked It
Career Connection
School principals champion teachers who believe every student can learn at high levels, and Escalante's career at Garfield High is the most powerful available demonstration of what happens when school leadership actively supports that conviction rather than quietly accepting mediocrity.
Each Kindness
Woodson, Jacqueline
Why We Picked It
Career Connection
School principals build cultures where every student belongs and feels valued, and this story's unforgettable portrait of what exclusion costs, for the student excluded and for those who watched, is exactly the culture-shaping conversation that great principals use to set the tone for their whole school.