There are two main paths you can take while attempting to transition from teacher to administrator. You can remain in the district you are already in and wait for an opening to come along there, or you can broaden your search outside your home district. Of course you can look for opportunities inside and outside your district at the same time as well. Either way, there are many chances for you to build a network of like-minded professionals, which can increase your chances of landing a job interview and possibly an administrative position.
You may be in a different position and already in an administrative job you aren’t satisfied with and you’re looking to make a move, such as assistant principal to principal. There are some differences between this and looking for your first administrative job, but the same principles of networking apply. The greater your network, the more chances you’ll have to interview, hopefully in multiple districts. Go as wide as you need to and interview as often as you can. At the worst, you’ll gain valuable interviewing experience, which will help you eventually ace that key interview.
Ask an Administrator to be Your Mentor
If you have built a worthwhile teaching career, you’ve gained the respect of the administrators you have worked under. You may have asked one or more of them to complete internship hours under their supervision while completing your master’s degree in school administration.
This can be a valuable chance to approach an experienced administrator to serve as an informal mentor for you. Talk to them about their own experiences, including the interviews they had to attend, the entry level jobs they held, and their overall personal insights into the field. You’ll be surprised at what you haven’t thought about as you embark on this career path.
Leadership Opportunities and Active Involvement in Your School District
Building a Strong Reputation in your Home District
This may not sound like an actual opportunity, but it can be the gateway to many. The stronger your reputation, dependability, and integrity, the stronger your chances are for being invited by colleagues and administration to serve on committees, take leadership roles, and emerge as a leader among your peers. This can be in various positions which I’ll outline below.
School, District, County, and State Committees
You may be given the chance to serve on a curriculum committee, a school climate committee, or take a role in your local association. My advice is to do as much as you can. Learn about every facet of education possible. You will develop a more comprehensive approach in your own career and also appreciate what the other players in the process experience and have to deal with.
Internship/Observation Hours
As you approach the end of your master’s degree, you are going to have to complete internship hours. Make these count. Do not view them as a chore or hassle. You’ll begin to see the interplay between teachers and administrators and how to best bridge that gap. You need an appreciation of both sides to be able to be effective in the long-term.
This can include everything from assisting with discipline referrals to communicating with parents and also understanding the administrative side of staff evaluation, just to name a few. You can also reach out to neighboring districts and ask to complete some independent observations. It is a good experience to observe in districts with differing socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic backgrounds.
Book and Topic Studies
If you have motivated peers in your administrative cohort, you may want to suggest a book or topic study you can meet periodically to discuss and exchange notes and ideas on.
Attend Board Meetings
This is where the “sausage is made.” It is very common to hear teachers and administrators express an aversion to attending board meetings because it is the most political aspect of a school district. After all, board members have to run for and be elected to their positions and then subsequently wield a fair amount of power. Still, it’s an important function to understand, and I would recommend attending some of these meetings to learn the process and fully understand the role of the board, especially the concept of “board-approved policy.”
Connect With Former Classmates
This is another avenue of networking. The further you go in school and start to major or specialize in something, the more often your friendships and networks will form around academic and career interests. Keep in touch with this part of your network. Social media platforms like LinkedIn is an easy way to do that. You never know what opportunities can come from this.
I hope some of the ideas for networking for administrative positions that I have laid out here are helpful. This is not a complicated process, but it requires some effort and assertiveness to broaden your chances of landing an administrative job. It can also be a part of developing lifelong professional and personal relationships, which can enrich both of those aspects of your life.
