How to Become a Principal in New York

New York principal requirements, step by step

Administrator Certificate (SBL/SDL titles remain available during transition). Each requirement is stated as NYSED Office of Teaching Initiatives publishes it, with the governing source cited.

1. 1

   Understand the 2025 Administrator Certificate transition

   As of January 29, 2025, NYSED began issuing an Administrator Certificate and a Superintendent Extension. School Building Leader (SBL) and School District Leader (SDL) certificates still exist, but NYCPS states they will not be issued with effective dates after September 31, 2031. The new Administrator Certificate combines building- and district-level leadership except superintendent-titled roles, which require the Superintendent Extension.

   Source: highered.nysed.gov

2. 2

   Document acceptable teaching or pupil personnel experience for SBL

   Initial SBL requires at least three years of acceptable teaching and/or pupil personnel service experience, as defined on NYSED’s school-building leadership experience page.

   Source: highered.nysed.gov

3. 3

   Complete a registered leadership program

   Finish a New York-registered educational leadership program that leads to institutional recommendation for the SBL or successor Administrator Certificate title you are pursuing.

   Source: highered.nysed.gov

4. 4

   Pass the SBL assessment and EAS when required

   Pass the School Building Leader assessment. Candidates with an application date on or after May 1, 2014 must also pass the Educating All Students (EAS) test. Use the NYSTCE SBL and EAS instruments until a successor administrator examination is operational.

   Source: highered.nysed.gov

5. 5

   Apply through TEACH

   Submit the application in the TEACH system with program recommendation, experience verification, and examination scores. New York City Department of Education hiring pages describe school-leader certification as a supporting reference; NYSED’s Office of Teaching Initiatives remains the issuing authority.

   Source: highered.nysed.gov

6. 6

   Advance to Professional SBL when using the legacy title

   Professional SBL requires three years of educational leadership experience and first-year mentoring. Candidates moving onto the Administrator Certificate should follow the experience and mentoring rules NYSED publishes for that title, and add the Superintendent Extension before accepting a superintendent-titled position.

   Source: highered.nysed.gov

New York’s leadership titles changed mid-decade in a way that still leaves two vocabularies in circulation. On January 29, 2025, the Office of Teaching Initiatives began issuing an Administrator Certificate that covers building- and district-level leadership except superintendent-titled roles, plus a separate Superintendent Extension for those roles. School Building Leader and School District Leader certificates were not abolished overnight. They remain issuable during a long transition. The New York City Public Schools career page states that SBL and SDL will not be issued with effective dates after September 31, 2031—an official NYC wording that candidates should read as a sunset for new issuances, not as a retroactive cancellation of certificates already held.

Until a successor administrator examination is operational, the testing stack that programs still prepare for is NYSTCE’s School Building Leader assessment plus, for anyone whose pathway is dated on or after May 1, 2014, the Educating All Students test. People who completed classroom certification before EAS existed sometimes assume leadership applications inherit that exemption. NYSED’s administrative-certificate rules do not work that way: the May 1, 2014 EAS line is tied to the leadership application, not to the year the candidate first became a teacher.

Experience for Initial SBL is counted on a dedicated leadership-experience page, not on the classroom-certification experience tables. NYSED requires at least three years of acceptable teaching and/or pupil personnel service experience. Combining fragmentary coaching, leave-replacement, and per-diem work without checking whether those years are “acceptable” is a frequent TEACH deficiency. Professional SBL then adds a different clock: three years of educational leadership experience and first-year mentoring. Teaching years already used for Initial SBL do not automatically satisfy the Professional leadership-experience requirement.

Application remains a TEACH transaction even when a New York City superintendent or principal pipeline is the employer. NYC DOE pages on school-leader and supervisory certification are useful hiring context, but they do not issue the certificate. Candidates who accept a superintendent-titled role on the strength of an Administrator Certificate alone will still need the Superintendent Extension. Treat the 2025 titles as a consolidation of building and district work, not as a license to serve as superintendent without the extension NYSED created for that title.

Required exams and fees

New York uses NYSTCE SBL / EAS (until new admin exam operational). 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 Administrator Certificate (SBL/SDL titles remain available during transition). Verify approval with NYSED Office of Teaching Initiatives.

Moving an administrator credential to New York

Confirm out-of-state administrator evaluation rules directly with NYSED Office of Teaching Initiatives. This site does not republish NASDTEC interstate-agreement text.

NYSED Office of Teaching Initiatives