Every Principal’s End of School Year Checklist

A good principal will use the end of school year to search for and make improvements for the upcoming school year.

Reflect on the Past Year

As a leader of your school, it is important to reflect on the past year. At some point, you’ll sit down and consider the success of initiatives, programs, and policies implemented throughout the past year. By doing so you’ll also find where your school has room for improvement. As a good administrator, you are constantly searching for ways to improve your school. Write up a list of improvements to be implemented, prioritizing each action item for the upcoming school year.

Visit with Faculty and Staff

As general housekeeping, at the end of the year, administrators should meet with teachers to conduct evaluations. This is the time where you can give teachers recognition for their work and challenge them in areas they need to improve. Not only is it important to formally sit down one-on-one with staff to give them feedback, but it gives staff an opportunity to provide feedback of the administrator’s performance.

During your reflection process, you may miss a thing or two. A faculty member may have more insight on programs that are working or not working. Their insight can give you a better understanding of the school needs or add valuable action items you may have missed.

Meet with Committees

Your committees can be essential building blocks for the school’s success. Make sure you schedule time for school committees before the end of the year. A final meeting with your committee should be focused specifically on how to improve the committee’s effectiveness, what the committee should work on next year, and any final things the committee might foresee needing for the upcoming school year.

Conduct Classroom Inventory and Teacher Check Out

Be sure to include classroom and teacher check out as an end of the school year checklist item. Have teachers take an inventory of their classroom–from furniture to technology to books. Build an excel spreadsheet that teachers can use to inventory their classroom each year. Doing inventory is a great way to keep a comprehensive list of everything, even if teachers come or leave, you will know what is left in each classroom.

Inventorying classrooms will also give teachers the opportunity to clean their classrooms, cover and protect technology during the long break, and organize the classroom to start fresh for the next school year.

Meet with District Superintendent

Usually, superintendents will schedule a meeting with their principals at the end of the year. If your superintendent has not scheduled a meeting, it would be a good idea to reach out. When you meet with your superintendent, this is the time where you can ask for advice, constructive criticism, or make suggestions to them. Make sure to have an idea or two of any changes for the upcoming year to discuss at that time.

Begin Preparation for the Upcoming School Year

Taking all insights, suggestions, and feedback into account; now is the time to start preparing for the next school year. A tedious task that requires checklist items of cleaning and inventorying your personal office to reviewing assessments and ordering supplies.

This step in your checklist is the last and most important for you are taking all the information you learned about the previous year, and making the necessary changes to make the next school year successful.