In February, the Reform Board approved new standards for hiring principals.
In addition to having the appropriate administrative certificate from the state, principals also must:
Have a master’s degree.
Have a combination of at least six years of classroom and administrative experience.
Have completed 70 hours of administrative course work in areas such as teacher observation, coaching and personnel remediation.
Live in Chicago.
Complete a 30-day internship in a school under a mentor principal. (This requirement is waived for previous Chicago public school principals, principals from outside the system and assistant principals who worked full time outside the classroom.)
Once selected, principals must complete a four-day orientation.
To stay in office, principals must log 32 hours of professional growth activities every two years (in workshops, conferences, seminars or college courses) and receive a satisfactory performance evaluation from both their local school council and the chief executive officer.