How to Become a Principal in Indiana

Indiana principal requirements, step by step

Building Level Administrator. Each requirement is stated as Indiana Department of Education — Office of Educator Licensing publishes it, with the governing source cited.

1. 1

   Hold a Professional Educators License in an eligible area

   Hold a Professional Educators License that is an initial, standard, provisional, proficient, or accomplished instructional license, or a school counselor license. Other license types do not satisfy the Building Level Administrator prerequisite.

   Source: in.gov

2. 2

   Submit an experience letter for two years of teaching or counseling

   Provide an experience letter documenting at least two years of teaching, or at least two years as a school counselor if the candidate holds a counselor license. Teaching years and counselor years are alternative bases, not interchangeable fragments unless the letter matches the license held.

   Source: in.gov

3. 3

   Complete an approved Building Level Administrator program and hold a master’s or higher

   Finish an approved Building Level Administrator program and hold a master’s degree or higher. Program completion and the graduate degree are both required.

   Source: in.gov

4. 4

   Pass Praxis 5412 at Indiana’s passing score of 150

   Pass Praxis Educational Leadership: Administration and Supervision (5412). The Indiana Department of Education’s February 26, 2026 testing PDF publishes a passing score of 150 and a fee of $120.

   Source: in.gov

5. 5

   Complete CPR from an IDOE-approved provider and suicide-prevention training

   Hold valid CPR certification from an IDOE-approved provider and complete suicide-prevention training. These are licensing requirements, not optional district onboarding modules.

   Source: in.gov

6. 6

   Apply through LVIS 360

   Submit the Building Level Administrator application in LVIS 360 after the program recommendation, Praxis 5412 score, experience letter, CPR, and suicide-prevention documentation are ready.

   Source: in.gov

Indiana names the campus credential Building Level Administrator, not “principal license,” and the Office of Educator Licensing keeps it on the administrative-licenses page. The prerequisite is a Professional Educators License in a listed category: initial, standard, provisional, proficient, or accomplished instructional, or school counselor. A candidate who holds only an emergency permit or an expired instructional license cannot stack BLA on top of nothing. School counselors are explicitly included; other student-services titles are not listed on that prerequisite sentence and should not be assumed.

Experience is documented by a letter, and the letter has to match the license. Two years of teaching satisfy the requirement for instructional-license holders. Two years as a school counselor satisfy it for counselor-license holders. A counselor who taught for one year and counseled for one year does not automatically have “two years” unless the letter and the license line up with how IDOE reads the rule. Approved BLA program completion and a master’s or higher are additional, not substitutes for the letter.

Testing is pinned to an IDOE PDF dated February 26, 2026: Praxis 5412 Educational Leadership: Administration and Supervision, passing score 150, fee $120. That PDF is the official fee and cut-score source used here. Older Pearson or Praxis codes that a university still prints in a handbook are not Indiana’s current BLA exam unless they appear on that file. CPR must come from an IDOE-approved provider, and suicide-prevention training is a licensing item. District first-aid days that are not on the approved-provider list will not clear LVIS 360.

Applications file through LVIS 360, which Indiana’s educator-licensing office uses for administrative as well as instructional transactions. Missing any one of the six pieces—prerequisite license, experience letter, approved program, master’s, Praxis 5412, or CPR plus suicide prevention—produces a deficiency rather than a partial license. Building Level Administrator is also distinct from district-level administrative licenses on the same IDOE page; selecting a superintendent or director title will not authorize a principalship.

Required exams and fees

Indiana uses Praxis 5412 Educational Leadership: Administration & Supervision. Fees and cut scores appear only when published by the cited source (as of September 2026).

Institutions with educational leadership programs

The table lists educational leadership CIP codes and award levels from IPEDS. This extract reported no completion counts, so none are shown. An award conferred does not mean the program is approved to recommend candidates for Building Level Administrator. Verify approval with Indiana Department of Education — Office of Educator Licensing.

Moving an administrator credential to Indiana

Confirm out-of-state administrator evaluation rules directly with Indiana Department of Education — Office of Educator Licensing. This site does not republish NASDTEC interstate-agreement text.

Indiana Department of Education — Office of Educator Licensing