Video Interview Practice – Dashboard

Ascend VIP Video Interview Practice 1920x1080

About Yourself

About Yourself: Framing Your Leadership

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Tell us about your professional background, and why you are interested in becoming a school leader.

Why are you interested in this particular position?

What strengths would you bring to this position?

What approaches do you use to manage your time effectively?

What do you see as your greatest weaknesses, and what have you done to address them?

Tell us about yourself and your professional experience. What makes you the best candidate for this role?

YOUR ENTRY PLAN

Your Entry Plan: Creating Confidence

Event,Planner,Timetable,Agenda,Plan,On,Schedule,Event.,Business,Woman

What would you plan to accomplish by the end of your first 30 days on the job? First 60 days? First 90 days?

What would you to do ensure a successful start to the school year?

How would you build a positive school culture and climate?

How will you build relationships with students?

VISION FOR LEARNING

Vision For Learning: Your Philosophy Of Instruction

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What does the ideal school culture look like, and what would you do to create the kind of culture you envision?

What does effective instructional leadership look like?

How have you demonstrated instructional leadership in your most recent roles? 

What is your philosophy of education?

What books have had the most influence on your professional growth in the past five years?

STAFF CULTURE

Staff Culture: Cultivating Professional Climate

What steps would you take to create a high-performing administrative team?

How do you involve staff in decision-making?

What does distributed leadership mean to you? How have you facilitated distributed leadership among your staff?

How would you celebrate the contributions of all staff members?

What do you believe are the most important contributors to a positive working relationship with school secretaries and other office staff?

What do you look for when hiring a new staff member?

What do you see as the key factors in effective teacher collaboration?

managing conflict

Managing Conflict: Helping People Move Forward

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Give an example of a situation in which you dealt with a conflict between two staff members. What did you do to resolve the conflict, and what did you learn from the experience? What would you differently if you could do it over again?

How would you respond if a parent complained about the difficulty of homework assignments?

Describe a challenging situation involving an irate parent or family member. How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the situation?

How would you handle a conflict between a parent and teacher in which the teacher was clearly in the wrong?

How would you communicate with your staff about a district decision with which you disagreed?

managing STAFF

Managing Staff: Support & Accountability

Describe your approach to supporting teachers in improving their practice.

What would you do if you had a non-teaching staff member who was not meeting expectations? 

What would you do if you had a classroom teacher whose performance was below expectations and not improving?

What would you to do work with a teacher struggling with serious classroom management issues?

How would you deal with a teacher who was resistant to a new initiative and was discouraging others from participating?

Describe a situation in which you helped a teacher improve his or her performance. How did you initially identify the situation, bring it to the teacher’s attention, and bring about improvement?

STUDENTS

Students: Climate & Relationships

What is your experience working with students from diverse backgrounds? How does diversity impact student learning?

What is your approach to working with students with special needs?

How do you build relationships with students and encourage student leadership?

Why do you want to work with (elementary/middle/high school) students?

What action would you take to deal with hallway discipline issues? 

How would you respond if a teacher came to you to report suspected abuse of a student at home?

What is your philosophy of student discipline? How does it relate to students receiving special education services?

Describe your process for handling a disciplinary referral in which a student has been sent to the office for being disruptive and disrespectful in class.

OPERATIONS

Operations: Running A School Effectively

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What experience do you have creating and maintaining a budget?

In this position, you will be expected to make regular reports to the superintendent (or designee). What do you believe will facilitate a positive working relationship with the superintendent?

Give an example of a situation in which you worked effectively with a non-instructional staff member, such as a custodian, to solve a problem. What did you learn from this situation, and what would you do differently?

Describe your approach to hiring and retaining talented staff.

PARENTS & COMMUNITY

Parents & Community: Building Partnerships For Learning

Blurred,Images,Of,Parents,Sitting,In,The,Classroom,To,Talk

Describe your approach to engaging families from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds.

How will you engage the community to support bond issues?

How would you handle a disagreement between parent groups (such as PTA) and staff?

How would you engage parents and community members as active participants in the school?

IMPROVEMENT

Improvement: Making Teaching And Learning Better

How would you create a professional development plan for the year? What information would you gather, and what steps would you take to create the plan?

What do you believe are the key characteristics of effective teaching?

How do you support technology integration in the classroom?

Describe your experience with involvement in curricular change

What do you envision doing to contribute to the quality of curriculum in this role?

How will you encourage effective collaboration between teachers?

Download Interview Questions Word .docx »

INSTRUCTIONS

Select a category, then pick a question to answer
Grant permission for the app to access your camera and mic
Record a 5-minute practice answer
When asked "Ready to send?" don't click anything—your response will be replayed for you
Watch your video & rate response the using the checklist on this page
Make notes in your Ascend Leadership Journal
Click "No" after watching your video. You can practice the same question again, or...
Hit refresh to erase your draft answer and choose another question

IMPORTANT: Please do NOT finish uploading your answer, or it will be visible to our customer service team, and we may use it in Ascend program or marketing materials.

If you upload a video by mistake, just drop us a line at info@principalcenter.com or use the red HELP button in the lower right-hand corner, and we'll delete it.

Logged in as: [accessally_user_email]

RATE YOUR PRACTICE RESPONSES

Used all 4:59 of my time
Used "Rule of 3" to organize response into three main points
Included a 1-minute story to illustrate a point
Mentioned specific accomplishments
Conveyed who I am/what I believe/what my values are
Answered every part of the question
Maintained good facial expression at beginning, middle, and end of response
Conveyed a high level of energy & enthusiasm
Used verb tenses to help the interview team picture me in the role
Conveyed a sense of trajectory, interviewing for the job I want, not the job I have

Download Printable Checklist »