How to Become a Principal in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania principal requirements, step by step

Administrative I (75) Principal PK-12. Each requirement is stated as Pennsylvania Department of Education publishes it, with the governing source cited.

1. 1

   Hold a baccalaureate degree and a 3.0 GPA in the graduate program

   Earn a baccalaureate degree and complete a PDE-approved graduate-level principal program with at least a 3.0 grade-point average. The graduate program must include an internship or practicum.

   Source: pa.gov

2. 2

   Finish a PDE-approved graduate-level principal program

   Complete the approved principal preparation program, including the required internship or practicum. Program recommendation is part of the TIMS application for Administrative I (75) Principal PK-12.

   Source: pa.gov

3. 3

   Verify three years of satisfactory professional experience

   Document three years of satisfactory professional experience in an educational setting related to the instructional process. Experience that is not tied to the instructional process does not satisfy this PDE requirement.

   Source: pa.gov

4. 4

   Pass the Pennsylvania required administrative test

   Pass the administrative test Pennsylvania requires for this certificate. PDE’s administrative and supervisory certification pages refer to the Pennsylvania required test; confirm the current instrument with the approved program and PDE before registering.

   Source: pa.gov

5. 5

   Apply for Administrative I (75) through TIMS — or use the Provisional route

   File in the Teacher Information Management System for Administrative I (75) Principal PK-12. Candidates who already have an offer of employment may instead seek Administrative Provisional I and must convert within two years through a program or PIL induction plus the required test.

   Source: pa.gov

Pennsylvania codes the PK-12 principal certificate as Administrative I (75). That parenthetical number is not trivia; TIMS applications and LEA staffing systems look for certificate 75, and selecting a supervisory or superintendent title in the same administrative-supervisory cluster will not authorize a principalship. The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s page for current educators lists a baccalaureate degree, a PDE-approved graduate-level principal program that includes an internship or practicum, a 3.0 GPA in that graduate work, three years of satisfactory professional experience in an educational setting related to the instructional process, and the Pennsylvania required administrative test.

The experience clause is narrower than “any three years in a school.” PDE ties the years to the instructional process. Business-office, facilities, or purely operational roles can fail that test even when the employer’s letterhead looks official. Candidates who spent years as athletic directors or technology coordinators should have their chief school administrator describe instructional duties explicitly on the verification, rather than assuming job title alone will clear TIMS.

Testing language on the PDE administrative-supervisory page is the Pennsylvania required test, not a vendor nickname. Approved programs often prepare candidates for a particular instrument, but the Department’s own certification pages are the source used here, and they do not publish a cut score on those URLs. Register through the channel the approved program and PDE specify, and do not import a passing score from an unofficial site.

There is a pressure-valve for districts that need a principal before the graduate program is finished. Administrative Provisional I can be issued when there is an offer of employment. Conversion must happen within two years, either by completing the approved program or through PIL induction plus the required test. Treating Provisional I as a permanent principal certificate is the pitfall: the two-year clock is a conversion deadline, not a renewal cycle. All of this files through TIMS at tims.pa.gov, including the FAQ track PDE publishes for administrative, supervisory, and superintendent questions.

Required exams and fees

Pennsylvania uses Pennsylvania required administrative test. 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 Administrative I (75) Principal PK-12. Verify approval with Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Moving an administrator credential to Pennsylvania

Confirm out-of-state administrator evaluation rules directly with Pennsylvania Department of Education. This site does not republish NASDTEC interstate-agreement text.

Pennsylvania Department of Education