How To Become An Educational Administrator: What It Is and Career Path

What is an educational administrator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Bill McGinley,

Jennifer McCreight

Over your life, you've probably encountered many education administrators - principals, school superintendents, program directors, or college deans. But, have you ever thought about what goes into working in these roles? Education administrators run the day-to day management of day care centers, preschools, schools, and colleges and universities. Their jobs are very challenging but immensely rewarding.

In order to ensure that the operations of the educational institution run smoothly, these key administrators perform a variety of duties. These include hiring and supervising teachers, creating school rules and policies, planning academic calendars, and overseeing student recruitment and admissions. They frequently serve as a supervisor for managers and support other faculty, such as librarians, coaches, teachers, and aids. They may also be expected to get involved in public relations and oversee other services such as financial aid and campus housing.

Successful administrators are skilled leaders with strong communication, organization, and time-management skills. They are comfortable making both day-to-day and long-term decisions. They also interact effectively with students, parents, teachers, and community members.

In most states, if you're looking to be an education administrator, you'll need a Bachelor's degree in either education or a major relating to a school subject you will teach, a teaching certificate or license, a Master's degree (or higher) in education leadership or administration and a principal's certificate or license. Most education requirements to work in private schools or higher education will be the same but the licensing requirements may vary based on the organization.

What general advice would you give to an educational administrator?

Bill McGinley

President & CEO, American College of Health Care Administrators

LTC administrators should have at least a bachelor's degree in business or a healthcare-related field. A well-rounded internship that exposes the future administrator to all aspects of the operation is essential. Needed skills include business, marketing, finance, operations, management and leadership.
Post pandemic opportunities will be nationwide in this field with a greater need in rural areas.
Technology will continue to play a big role in the field. Computerized medical records, census management, and all clinical areas will continue to dominate. Online meetings are liable to continue as well, as employers realize that there is a savings to be gained by not having people travel to meetings and conferences.

ScoreEducational AdministratorUS Average

Salary

5.3

Avg. Salary $67,252

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 4.28%

Black or African American 11.51%

Hispanic or Latino 13.83%

Unknown 3.99%

White 65.68%

Gender

female 68.07%

male 31.93%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an educational administrator

Explore educational administrator education requirements

Most common educational administrator degrees

Bachelor's

61.0 %

Master's

19.5 %

Associate

10.2 %

Start to develop specific educational administrator skills

Skills	Percentages
Professional Development	12.23%
Curriculum Development	10.92%
Rehabilitation	9.81%
K-12	5.70%
Medical Education	5.08%

Complete relevant educational administrator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New educational administrators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an educational administrator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real educational administrator resumes.

Research educational administrator duties and responsibilities

Establish operating policies and procedures and attain SNF Medicare certification.
Render correct concepts/meanings between source and target languages conveying clarity, tone, and style from one language into another.
Lead and develop the technical strategy for improving architectural and design elements of SharePoint to enhance utilization and drive user functionality.
Ensure up-to-date ACLS credentials of all medical group providers to practice under JCAHO guidelines.

Prepare your educational administrator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your educational administrator resume.

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