School Leader Search

Principal and school leader search by people who've built the schools.

For charter networks, school districts, and education organizations hiring the leaders who actually run schools. Built on K-12 fluency, anti-bias assessment, and the deep network of leaders we've spent two decades building.

Schedule a Consultation → See our assessment work
Why this matters

"The principalship is the single highest-leverage role in K-12. Get that hire right and the school transforms. Get it wrong and students lose a year of learning. We treat these as high-stakes hires because they are."

Mike Montoya Founder & CEO · 32+ years in K-12
Who Hires Us

The organizations running schools.

School leadership searches are different from executive searches. The work, the talent pool, and the assessment all require K-12 fluency. Here's who we partner with on principal and school-level searches.

Charter networks (CMOs)

Multi-school networks hiring principals, school directors, and instructional leaders across multiple campuses. We've placed school leaders for KIPP, Alliance, Aspire, Noble, Making Waves, and similar networks.

School districts

District central offices hiring principals, assistant superintendents, and chief academic officers for individual schools or district-wide leadership roles.

Independent schools

Heads of school searches for independent and parochial schools, with attention to school culture, board governance, and community fit.

Education backbone organizations

Statewide and regional organizations hiring school-facing leadership, including superintendents, regional directors, and school turnaround leaders.

Recent Roles

The seats we've helped fill in schools.

A partial list of school leadership roles placed across charter networks, districts, and independent schools. Each role placed with a clear assessment of instructional and operational fit, not just resume match.

Principal School-level leadership across elementary, middle, and high school
Assistant Principal Instructional and operational deputies to school leaders
Head of School Top-of-org leadership for independent and parochial schools
Superintendent District-level leadership for small to mid-sized districts
Director of Schools Multi-school operational leadership within networks
Director of Academics Instructional vision and academic strategy leadership
Instructional Leader Coaching, content, and curriculum leadership across schools
School Turnaround Leader Principals with track record in turnaround and improvement work
Our Assessment Work

An anti-bias assessment framework built for schools.

School leadership talent doesn't get surfaced by traditional resume screens and recruiter intuition. We use a structured assessment framework specifically calibrated to the realities of running a school. It's designed to surface leadership capability regardless of pedigree, and to identify the candidates whose actual practice fits the school's actual context.

1
Structured candidate evaluation

Every candidate moves through the same evaluation criteria, calibrated to the role, so we compare against the standard rather than against each other.

2
Instructional capability surfacing

School leadership is instructional leadership. Our assessment includes performance tasks, scenario interviews, and instructional artifact review to evaluate the actual work.

3
Context-fit, not just role-fit

A great principal in one school context can be the wrong leader for a different school. We assess for the specific school's culture, students, community, and stage of development.

4
Pipeline diversity by design

Diverse pipelines are an architectural decision made at the start of the search, not a slate adjustment at the end. We design from the field, not from the shortlist.

School leadership in a classroom setting
76%
Leaders of color placed by Stronger

Across all placements since founding. Not as a target. As the result of pipeline design and assessment rigor.

Why Stronger

Two decades of K-12 work, in the field.

Stronger's founder spent 22 years inside the kinds of organizations our school clients now run. The credential matters because school leadership work is technical, contextual, and political at the same time. You need a search partner who's done the work.

KIPP SoCal Public Schools Board director · oversight of one of California's largest charter networks
The Broad Foundation Senior advisor on education leadership and systems work
Stanford John W. Gardner Center Youth development and education research and practice
Education Leaders of Color Active partner and champion of the national network
About the firm →
Mission-driven schools, mission-aligned leaders.
Featured School Leader Case

Building a stronger leadership pipeline for hard-to-fill principal roles.

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, one of the largest charter networks in Los Angeles, partnered with Stronger during a period of post-pandemic leadership transition. The work expanded their candidate pipeline, clarified market expectations, and strengthened their long-term recruitment strategy.

10+ Principal candidates surfaced
Post-pandemic Leadership transition context
4 outcomes Across pipeline, market, strategy, and readiness
Read the full case study →
Your Search, Next

If you're hiring a principal or school leader, let's talk.

A complimentary 30-minute call to understand the school, the role, and whether Stronger is the right partner. No pitch, no pressure. Just a real conversation about the work.

Schedule a complimentary call → Executive Search