Elementary School Principal

What is an Elementary School Principal?

The following job responsibilities are common for individuals in elementary school principal roles:

• Support all individuals engaged and involved with an elementary school, including teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members
• Develop standards for curriculums, ensure established standards and curriculums are adhered to, and observe teachers to monitor performance
• Create class schedules, set staff schedules, and identify and/or organize professional development opportunities
• Report school progress, initiatives, test scores, and other news of interest to parents, school boards, and community members
• Handle student disciplinary issues and support teachers and staff in resolving behavioral or academic issues

A Day in the Life

The job of an elementary school principal is huge—these individuals oversee all operational aspects of a school, ensuring the success of teachers, students, and staff. Depending on the size of the school, the principal may be involved in day-to-day aspects of cafeteria operations, bus and transportation coordination, and creating schedules for teachers, janitors, and administrative staff. However, in larger schools, principals may delegate these tasks to an assistant principal or office administrator.

An elementary school principal’s primary responsibility is to ensure success of the school and the students that the school educates. The principal recruits, interviews, and hires teachers, monitors teacher performance and observes classrooms, and sets curriculum and performance standards. The principal ensures that students are learning the material needed to succeed on state examinations and reports test scores and progress toward goals to parents, superintendents, and the community at large.

Outside of the school environment, the principal is also responsible for working with school boards, superintendents, and legislators to secure funding for the school and its programs. The principal is the face of the school and attends community events, speaks, and creates presentations on behalf of the school in the community. As such, the position requires more political maneuvering than other school positions—like teaching—where educating students is the first and foremost responsibility.

Typical Work Schedule

Working as an elementary school principal requires constant attention and supervision of different aspects of the school operations. This means that the principals have to follow full-time working schedules with 40 hours per week. However, they may need to work extra hours on evenings or weekends to meet parents and other community members as well as to attend related events as the school concerts, sports competitions or educational conferences. Principals actually work on average 60 hours per week or even more. They also continue their work during the vacations including the summer vacation when they take care of the school maintenance, recruiting of staff, training workshops and purchasing of supplies. This job might be demanding and stressful and therefore requires focus and dedication, so you have to consider these concerns before you decide to move from your position to an administrative one like the principal.

Projected job growth

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of elementary school principals is expected to grow by at least 4 % between 2019 and 2020. This growth rate is the same as the average of other jobs and results mainly from the population growth, increase in student enrollment and number of new schools to be established. The number will also depend on the state and local budget that will determine if any new schools can be built. More vacancies continuously become available as old principals retire and leave their positions. School principal is a managerial position that is offered to experienced teachers who have proven leadership skills and have knowledge related to management. If you aim at working in such position, then you should prove a successful record as a teacher, develop the related skills and earn related certifications to the management of the school.

Career Progression

• Early Career: Elementary School Teacher
• Mid-Career: Assistant Principal, Principal
• Late Career: Instructional Coordinator, Superintendent

Typical Employers

The employers for such position are the elementary schools which can either be private or public. There are around 89,000 elementary schools in the US. Working in public schools is usually more financially rewarding compared to private schools. Some prestigious schools would have higher requirements to qualify as a principal to the school.