Resume template · Updated October 2026
School principal resume template
Short answer
Leslie suits a sitting principal: after a short summary it prints your leadership roles before skills, so school-wide results come first, under one calm touch of blue. The fictional sample has led a 1,350-student Kansas high school for six years, raising graduation and attendance, rebuilding the master schedule and hiring most of the staff, after assistant principal and math department chair roles.
Download the school principal sample
Darnell is a fictional high school principal. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Leslie suits a school principal resume
Leslie runs summary, work experience, skills, education and certifications, so a superintendent or search panel reads school-wide outcomes (graduation, attendance, staffing, budget) before any list of competencies. The centred blue header and short blue underlines add a single accent that looks polished without distracting from the results.
Second choice: Henrietta. Henrietta prints education straight after the jobs; better if a doctorate or principal preparation program is central to your application.
What goes in each section, in Leslie's order
Leslie prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Level and size of school, years as principal and in education, two headline results with numbers, and the degree or license that matters to the panel. Write it for the job you want: a larger school, a different level or a district office.
- Work Experience. Principal role first, with enrollment, staff and budget. Bullets are outcomes with a baseline and a time span: graduation, attendance, achievement growth, discipline, staff retention, programs added. Earlier roles get fewer bullets, and teaching years can share one entry.
- Skills. Technical for leadership work (school improvement planning, master scheduling, budgeting, teacher evaluation, MTSS); Tools for the student information system and data dashboards; Soft Skills for community engagement and hiring.
- Education. Doctorate, master's in leadership and the first degree, each with school and year. Panels read these closely for principal posts.
- Certifications. Administrator license with the level it covers, state and year, plus any evaluator credential your state requires. Name the license in the summary as well.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Darnell Whitfield
High School Principal, 1,350 Students, EdD
Overland Park, KS | darnell.whitfield@example.com | (913) 555-0117 | linkedin.com/in/sample-darnell-whitfield
High school principal with six years leading a 1,350-student comprehensive high school and fourteen years in education. Raised the four-year graduation rate from 84% to 91%, rebuilt the master schedule around ninth-grade teams and manages 110 staff and a $1.9 million site budget. EdD in educational leadership.
Experience
Principal, Prairie Ridge High School, Overland Park, KS (07/2020 to Present)
- Lead a 1,350-student high school with 110 staff, including three assistant principals and 82 teachers.
- Raised the four-year graduation rate from 84% to 91% in five years with ninth-grade teams, credit recovery and a weekly on-track review.
- Rebuilt the master schedule to add an advisory period and doubled dual-credit enrollment with the local community college.
- Cut chronic absenteeism from 22% to 15% with attendance teams, family outreach and a mentoring program.
- Hired 46 teachers over six years; teacher retention has stayed above the district average each year.
- Lead the school improvement plan and the accreditation visit with the site council and parent groups.
Assistant Principal, Cedar Bluff High School, Olathe, KS (07/2016 to 06/2020)
- Oversaw discipline, attendance and the special education department for 900 students.
- Introduced restorative conferences that cut out-of-school suspensions by about 35% in two years.
- Evaluated about 30 teachers a year using the district framework.
Mathematics Teacher and Department Chair, Cedar Bluff High School, Olathe, KS (08/2012 to 06/2016)
- Taught algebra and AP Statistics and chaired a 12-teacher department for two years.
Education
EdD, Educational Leadership, Missouri River University (05/2022)
MEd, School Leadership, Missouri River University (05/2016)
BS, Mathematics Education, Flint Hills State University (05/2012)
Certifications
- Administrator License (Building Principal), State of Kansas (2016)
Skills
School improvement planning, Master scheduling, Budget management, Teacher evaluation and coaching, MTSS and attendance systems, Data-driven instruction, Student information systems, Power BI dashboards, Google Workspace, Family and community engagement, Hiring and retaining staff
How to make the sample yours
Give every result a baseline
Graduation from 84% to 91% over five years says what "improved graduation" cannot. Use your school's published or internal figures and the years they cover.
Show you can build a staff
Teachers hired, retention compared with the district, coaching programs, leadership roles you created. Search panels know a principal is only as good as the team.
Put the schedule and budget on the page
A rebuilt master schedule, new courses or pathways, a site budget you manage and grants you won. These are the operational proofs boards look for.
Include families and community
Site council work, family nights, partnerships with colleges and employers. One bullet is enough if it has a number.
Rewrite for the next level
For a district role, lead with work across schools; for a different grade level, lead with results that transfer, such as attendance or staff development.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- school principal
- instructional leadership
- school improvement plan
- graduation rate
- chronic absenteeism
- master schedule
- teacher evaluation
- MTSS
- school budget
- staff hiring and retention
- family engagement
- data-driven decision making
- restorative practices
- dual credit
Mistakes to avoid
- "Responsible for all school operations" in place of results.
- Results with no baseline, years or student numbers.
- Teaching years written out in full detail, crowding out the leadership record.
- Claiming a district-wide result your school only contributed to; say what your school did.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 5 of 5 | 10 of 10 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 5 of 5 | 10 of 10 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 5 of 5 | 10 of 10 |
Frequently asked questions
What results should a principal put on a resume?
The ones a board reports on: graduation or promotion rates, attendance and chronic absenteeism, achievement growth, discipline, staff retention, new programs. Give a baseline, the result and the years, and use figures your school or district has published or can confirm.
Should I mention the Professional Standards for Educational Leadership?
Use them to check coverage, not as buzzwords. NPBEA says all seven of its member organizations, whose members include principals and superintendents, have endorsed PSEL and will encourage states to adopt it. If your bullets show results across those areas (mission, instruction, staff, community, operations), the panel will see it.
How long should a principal resume be?
Two pages is normal for a sitting principal. Keep teaching years to one short entry and give the space to leadership results.
How do I apply for a principal post at a different school level?
Lead with results that travel, such as attendance, staff development, family engagement and school culture, and add any experience with that age group, from summer programs to district committees.
How is a principal resume different from an assistant principal resume?
An assistant principal shows the areas they own (discipline, a grade level, a department) and growth into whole-school work. A principal shows the whole school: enrollment, budget, staff and outcomes across every group of students.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Leslie PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 5 section headings and all 10 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
Guides and templates for this resume
Sources, checked 29 October 2026
We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.
- National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA): PSEL Standards (NPBEA promotes the Professional Standards for Educational Leadership (PSEL); all seven member organizations, whose members include school principals and superintendents, have endorsed PSEL and will encourage states to adopt it)
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