Aspiring Assistant Principal LEAD


To strengthen our internal leadership pipeline and meet the diverse needs of the district, HCS has a strong commitment to recruit current HCS educators that demonstrate exceptional leadership potential. The Aspiring Assistant Principal LEAD program helps interested teachers and district leaders build on their current skill set to prepare for an school administrator role where they will work collaboratively with other school leaders and teachers to improve student learning and achievement.

Training and Practicum of the Program:

  • Throughout the year, candidates will engage in monthly, full-day professional learning sessions, facilitated by internal and external experts, that focus on key aspects of the HCS Principal Leadership Standards:
    • Equity & Ethics
    • Clear and Compelling Mission, Vision & Focus
    • Instructional Leadership
    • Balanced Leadership & Capacity Building
    • Involve Families and Communities
    • Culture of Care Within a Purposeful Community
  • Candidates have the opportunity to engage in job-embedded shadowing of a current assistant principal
  • Candidates will complete a leadership residency as a Summer REACH Site Director to experience the planning and execution that are required of school leaders


Eligibility Criteria:

  • Current HCS teacher or district leader with 4+ total years of teaching experience
  • Hold an ILL-A, ILL, or ILL-P Administrator license for the state of Tennessee or be currently enrolled in an Tennessee SBOE-approved administrator licensure program
  • Strong record of job performance as a teacher leader


Application Components for Initial Screening:

  • Current, up-to-date resume
  • Recommendation from the applicant’s current principal (recommendation form will be sent by the Talent team)
  • Personal letter of interest that demonstrates an understanding of the responsibilities of an assistant principal and provides specific evidence about the skills and competencies that make the applicant a good fit for the role 
  • Most recent Project COACH summative evaluation rubric (from T-Eval)
  • Most recent summative evaluation overview (from TNCompass)


Selection Process:

  • Phase 1: Screening - Each applicant's application components will be screened by multiple district leaders using a screening rubric. 
  • Phase 2: Interview - Applicants with satisfactory screening scores will be invited to interview with a small panel of district leaders. 
  • Phase 3: Selection - Candidates will be selected for the program based on a combination of their screening and interview scores. The number of candidates selected for a new LEAD cohort is based on multiple factors and may change from year to year.


Aspiring Assistant Principal LEAD (2023-2024)
The application for the 2024-2025 cohort of Aspiring Assistant Principal LEAD will be available in iCims from February 26 - March 10, 2024. The AAP LEAD application flyer can be found here.

If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to attend one of our virtual LEAD application information sessions. Please register here for one of the following information sessions: 
- December 12th - 3:30 and 5:00 pm
- December 14th - 3:30 and 5:00 pm
- December 19th - 3:30 and 5:00 pm
- January 4th - 4:00

LEAD Application Resource: We encourage all applicants to review our LEAD Application Resource for troubleshooting and support during the application process.


Have questions about Aspiring Assistant Principal LEAD? Email [email protected].