Every new principal gets a short window when the building is watching closely and forgiving easily. Spend it well and you earn the trust to make hard changes in year two. Spend it fixing the wrong things and you’ll spend year two repairing relationships instead.
I’ve been the new leader more than once, as a principal and as a superintendent, and I’ve coached many others through it. The leaders who thrive aren’t the ones with the boldest first-week plan. They’re the ones who use the first 90 days in the right order: learn, focus, then build.
Days 1–30: Listen before you change anything
Your first job is to understand the school you actually have, not the one in the interview packet.
Meet everyone, briefly and on purpose. Ask every staff member the same three questions: What should I keep? What should I fix first? What do you need from me? Write down the answers. Patterns show up by the second week.
Read the data, then walk the halls. Attendance, discipline, assessment results and the last improvement plan tell you where to look. Classrooms, the cafeteria and the bus line tell you what the numbers mean.
Find the informal leaders. Every building has people others follow, with or without a title. Know who they are before you need them.
Change only what’s unsafe or broken. Fix the obvious problems right away. Everything else can wait 30 days, and staff will notice that you waited.
Days 31–60: Pick two priorities and say them out loud
By the second month you’ll have a list of 20 things worth fixing. Choose two.
Good first priorities share three traits. Staff already named them in your listening conversations. You can show visible progress by winter break. And they connect to student outcomes, not just adult convenience.
Then say them out loud, the same way, everywhere: staff meetings, family newsletters, your conversations with the district office. Repeat them until people can finish your sentences. When a new idea comes along, and many will, ask whether it moves one of the two. If it doesn’t, it waits.
This is also the time to share what you heard. A short “here’s what you told me” summary at a staff meeting shows people that the listening was real. It also explains why you chose these two priorities.
Days 61–90: Build the routines that outlast the honeymoon
Goodwill fades. Routines last. Use the third month to set up the habits that will carry your priorities through the rest of the year.
A weekly leadership team meeting with a fixed agenda, starting with the two priorities, every time.
A short cycle for checking progress. Pick one or two measures for each priority and look at them every few weeks, not just at the midyear review.
Regular time in classrooms, on your calendar and protected like a meeting with the superintendent.
One way to hear from staff that doesn’t depend on your door being open. A quick monthly pulse survey or a rotating small-group lunch keeps the listening going.
By day 90 you should be able to answer three questions in a sentence each: What did I learn? What are we focused on? How will we know it’s working?
Three mistakes I see most
Arriving with the answer. A plan built at your last school ignores what this one already does well. Staff can tell.
Saying yes to everything. Every committee and initiative that lands on your desk in the first 90 days feels urgent. Most aren’t.
Leading alone. New principals often wait to build a real leadership team until they “know everyone.” Build it while you learn. They’ll help you learn faster.
Your turn
If you’ve led a school, what’s the one thing you wish you’d done differently in your first 90 days? Reply or comment. I read every answer.
If you’re supporting new principals this year, Canopy, our leadership development framework, pairs them with coaches who have sat in the same chair. Book a free 15-minute intro call and we’ll talk through what your leaders need.
Amy Davis, Ed.D., is the founder and CEO of Studiously. She has served as a principal and a superintendent and now coaches school, college and nonprofit leaders.
