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This varies by state. I know Illinois recently required
that Principals must have teaching experience to enter an
admin program. Other ed professionals could serve as a
sped administrator, but not as a building principal.

In other states, they allow any educational professional
with a few years of experience to become an admin. These
professionals can be counselors, speech/language paths,
educational psychs, or social workers, in addition to
teachers. You might look into these other professions if
you want to work in education but not teach.

I'm not aware of any state that allows someone to come off
the street, with no teaching or related professional
experience, to become a licensed educational admin, but I
suppose there could be some inner-city program in very hard
to staff districts that might have an administrative
equivalent of Teach For America. Even then, they would
probably be looking for someone with proven leadership
ability in another field.

On 10/15/15, Gaby wrote:
> I'm in college and looking to become a school
> administrator
> (specifically, a high school principal). Based on some
> preliminary web
> searching, it looks like the standard route into school
> administration is:
> bachelor's degree -> teaching licensure -> teaching
> experience ->
> master's in school administration -> administration
> licensure. However,
> I've done extensive teaching in the past few years,
> and though I want
> to engage closely with students and teachers in my
> career, I'm not so
> keen on day-to-day teaching. Is there a way for me to
> become a school
> admin without having to work as a teacher for several
> years? Could I
> start working as a low-level admin out of college or
> grad school and
> then work my way up?
>
> Thanks!

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