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School director skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Hamlet Hernandez,

Amanda Banks Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical school director skills. We ranked the top skills for school directors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 15.2% of school director resumes contained professional development as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a school director needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 school director skills for your resume and career

1. Professional Development

Professional development means to have the essential training certification or education with the purpose of earning and having a successful career. Every job requires a different set of skills. However, new skills may be needed in the future. Professional development, in this regard, helps people to develop and polish the skills and become efficient workers.

Here's how school directors use professional development:

Facilitate Professional Development workshops on various topics such as implementation of data, student attendance awareness and school wide developments.
Remain cognizant of educational developments by maintaining professional memberships and contacts and by pursuing personal professional development.

2. K-12

K12 is a term that incldues all 12 years of education in the US education system. It includes the education offered at the primary stage, middle stage, and secondary stage. It includes children of ages as young as 5 to 18 years. The grades included in K12 are Kindergarten, the initial 5 stages, grades 6 to 8, and 9 to 12. This system is followed specifically followed in the US and may vary in other countries.

Here's how school directors use k-12:

Provided language classes, interpretation, and tutoring services in over 63 languages to corporations, K-12 private schools and individuals.
Oversee the daily operations of a federally funded, state overseen K-12 feeder school operated by Lowell Public Schools.

3. Curriculum Development

Here's how school directors use curriculum development:

Developed and facilitated the practical nursing curriculum development and revision.
Managed church school department of the church, curriculum development, coordinated volunteer teachers and budget for this church

5. Kids

Here's how school directors use kids:

Hired as Director when school enrollment was at 34 kids.
Implement the Grow NJ Kids program.

6. Math

Here's how school directors use math:

Created math curriculum, developed teacher/room/subject/student schedules.
Achieved a 25% increase on Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment through development and implementation of math and science curriculum within program.

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7. Public Schools

Public schools are available for everyone. They are funded and controlled by the government. With state guidance, each school board determines the curricula, finances, and jobs for schools within its borders. The government also decides on academic standards and standardised tests.

Here's how school directors use public schools:

Initiated and nurtured strong partner relationships with local public schools and service agencies
Advocated for student rights in public schools.

8. Develop Strong Relationships

Here's how school directors use develop strong relationships:

Communicated with staff to ensure mandated educational requirements are up to date and with families to develop strong relationships.

9. Classroom Management

Here's how school directors use classroom management:

Design effective, individualized improvement plans for teachers to improve instruction, classroom management and student achievement gaps.
Authored instructional/classroom management strategies and classroom management policies for faculty and staff.

10. PowerPoint

Here's how school directors use powerpoint:

Created and implemented a credit education curriculum, updating and coordinating materials via PowerPoint.
Developed innovative PowerPoint presentations to train soldiers on processes to apply for military schools.

11. Financial Aid

Financial aid refers to cash released to an educational institution to help a student pay the school fee. The issuance of financial aid, whether scholarships, grants, or loans, aims to make access to education affordable to all students irrespective of their backgrounds.

Here's how school directors use financial aid:

Audited student enrollment and financial aid paperwork.
Oversee daily operations: monitor activities of school personnel in admissions, education, financial aid, student services and administration.

12. DOE

DOE, DOX, or design of experiments is a term used to refer to a part of applied statistics whose main focus is to conduct and observe controlled tests with the ultimate goal of understanding and explaining how information and results might vary under different hypotheses and circumstances and how such variables affect the results and tests. Design of experiments is used in marketing, politics, various sciences, and, of course, experiments.

Here's how school directors use doe:

Administered educational tests utilizing tools as DOE protocol and oversees quality assurance.
Assure full compliance with regulations and requirements of the Department of Education (DOE), federal and local agencies.

13. Payroll

Payroll is the sum of all the compensation that an organization has to pay to employees at a specified time. Payroll is managed by the finance or HR department while small business owners may handle it themselves. Payroll isn't fixed as it varies every month due to sick leaves, overtime, etc.

Here's how school directors use payroll:

Performed all executive and administrative duties, along with payroll, scheduling, reports and training needed for this position.
Submit payroll and inventory lists to owner, along with handle all POS transactions and ordering of products/inventory.

14. Child Care

Child care means the care, supervision, or guidance of a child by a person other than the child's parent, guardian, or custodian for periods of less than 24 hours. Childcare could be either center-based such as a daycare or a nursery or home-based care such as nannies or family daycare.

Here's how school directors use child care:

Know and implement the state of VA Child Care Licensing Standards as they apply to the daily operations of the school.
Performed child care activities to neighbors playing, teaching games, walks to park, feeding, and house work.

15. Human Resources

Human resources is a set of people in a business or a corporation that are designated to locate, interview, and recruit new employees into the company. They are also responsible to maintain the integrity of the employees and help them sort their problems out. They try to introduce and manage employee-benefit programs.

Here's how school directors use human resources:

Managed financial operations and human resources.
Initiated and conducted Human Resource investigation; reporting directly to the Vice President of Operations and Human Resources personnel.

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What skills help School Directors find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What school director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Hamlet Hernandez

Assistant Teaching Professor of Education, Website

This is difficult question to answer. If money is your driver, you may be frustrated. Clearly having a Sixth-Year
diploma in education is much more marketable than simply having the 092 certification. It is my hope that the
demos see the great value of and connection to, education has on a thriving democracy. Recognizing this
importance may result in higher wages but it may not....do the right thing, for the right reasons, and the right
way and you will be rewarded intrinsically and maybe even monetarily.

What type of skills will young school directors need?

Amanda Banks Ph.D.

Professor, Bluefield State College

Working knowledge of traditional and innovative instructional technology is essential for those entering teaching. Graduates should be familiar with a wide range of technology-based tools for effectively planning and delivering of instruction in a variety of formats, from in-class to synchronous and asynchronous learning. Fortunately, a number of preservice teachers consistently use or are at least exposed to a myriad of technology as students in higher ed. Familiarity with LMS platforms, audio/video recording and presentation apps, school-to-home communication modalities, and assistive technology are absolutely essential for every graduate planning to enter the classroom.
Additionally, developing innovate approaches to engaging and maintaining student interest and teaching the unwritten curriculum (e.g., basic citizenship skills, personal organization, punctuality, work quality, and honesty) are critical. Brief or protracted periods of virtual teaching can make this especially challenging. Another essential skillset is fostering student-parent-school partnerships. Research indicates parent involvement significantly impacts academic success for all students. For students with exceptional learning needs, parent involvement is the single most powerful predictor of their academic performance. New teachers should make it a top priority to build rapport with their students, and become familiar with their personalities and life circumstances as well as their learning strengths and needs.

What technical skills for a school director stand out to employers?

Marie Leahy

Associate Professor, Chestnut Hill College

The suddenness of the onset of the pandemic made all employers realize that it is absolutely critical for their workers to be able to mobilize quickly and adapt to an entirely new situation with relative ease. Recent graduates in the field of education will need to be able to use Microsoft Office and be able to use interactive whiteboards and maintain a classroom website. In addition, they will need to be able to utilize learning management systems, live streaming, and document cameras/visual presenters. Each school/district has its own learning management system, but if someone is experienced in using a learning management system, then getting accustomed to a different one is pretty seamless. The same is true for live streaming services and document cameras/visual presenters.

What soft skills should all school directors possess?

Colleen Wilkinson

Associate Professor, Program Director, Medaille College

Teaching is not a silo profession. We are in constant communication and collaboration with many stakeholders. Teacher Candidates need to be flexible in order to work well with all the different players in the game to make sure the student wins!

Do you want to know more?

List of school director skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a school director resume and required skills for a school director to have include:

Professional Development
K-12
Curriculum Development
Social Work
Kids
Math
Public Schools
Develop Strong Relationships
Classroom Management
PowerPoint
Financial Aid
DOE
Payroll
Child Care
Human Resources
Educational Programs

School Administration
CPR
Student Achievement
Staff Development
Kindergarten
Program Development
Learning Environment
Student Recruitment
Pre-K
Community Organizations
Conflict Resolution
Strategic Plan
Staff Training
Student Services
Behavior Management
Mathematics

School Programming
Community Events
Student Discipline
State Regulations
K-8
Community Outreach
After-School Program
School Management
Student Performance
Ministry
Social Justice
Student Enrollment
Student Body
Student Retention
Fine Arts
Educational Standards

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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