30-60-90 day plan for assistant principals
On this page
- What does an assistant principal actually own?
- Which rules does a new assistant principal need to know first?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- What should the discipline baseline show?
- How should a principal use the plan in the final interview?
- What should each check-in cover?
- A filled example
- What does the principal owe the new assistant principal?
- Common mistakes
- How do you adapt the plan?
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for an assistant principal starts with a written agreement with the principal on which areas the assistant principal owns, then makes those areas reliable: discipline entered and handled consistently, supervision covered, removal days tracked for students with disabilities, and a caseload of teacher observations on the district's timeline. By day 90 the assistant principal should be reporting on their areas with data and leading one improvement that supports the principal's priority. As of October 2026, the federal rules most likely to catch a new assistant principal out are the IDEA discipline timelines and the Title IX grievance rules.
This plan is for the principal or district leader onboarding a newly appointed assistant principal, dean of students or vice principal. The principal's own plan is in the 30-60-90 day plan for school principals; this page goes deeper on the areas principals usually delegate.
What does an assistant principal actually own?
The job varies more by school than almost any other leadership role, which is why the plan starts with a portfolio. Common areas, usually split between assistant principals in larger schools:
- Student behavior and discipline: referrals, investigations, consequences, parent contact, re-entry, and the school's behavior system.
- Attendance: chronic absenteeism lists, attendance meetings and truancy steps under state law.
- Supervision and operations: arrival, lunch, passing periods, dismissal, buses, events and drills.
- Teacher evaluation: an assigned caseload of observations and summative evaluations under the state and district framework.
- Programs: state testing coordination, 504 coordination, a grade band or department, the master schedule in secondary schools, or athletics and activities.
If the portfolio is not written down, the new assistant principal ends up as the person who handles whatever walks into the office, and nothing in the plan gets done.
Which rules does a new assistant principal need to know first?
Discipline is where an assistant principal's decisions carry the most legal weight. State law and district policy add a great deal, so confirm the details with the district office and counsel. Current as of October 2026; not legal advice.
| Rule | What it requires | What the assistant principal sets up |
|---|---|---|
| IDEA removals (34 CFR 300.530(b)) | School personnel may remove a child with a disability for up to 10 consecutive school days per incident; after 10 school days of removal in a school year, services must be provided during later removals | A running count of removal days, including in-school removals your district counts, for every student with an IEP |
| Change of placement (34 CFR 300.536) | A removal of more than 10 consecutive school days, or a pattern of removals totaling more than 10 school days in a year, is a change of placement; the district decides patterns case by case | A check of the student's total before any suspension decision |
| Manifestation determination (34 CFR 300.530(e) and (h)) | Within 10 school days of a decision to change placement for a conduct violation, the district, parent and relevant IEP team members must review whether the conduct was caused by, or had a direct and substantial relationship to, the disability, or was the direct result of a failure to implement the IEP; parents must be notified on the day the change-of-placement decision is made and given the procedural safeguards notice | A same-day process with the special education coordinator |
| Section 504 (34 CFR 104.35(a)) | An evaluation is required before any significant change in placement of a student who needs or is believed to need special education or related services | The same removal tracking for students with 504 plans, and a contact with the 504 coordinator |
| Title IX (34 CFR 106.44) | As the regulation reads in October 2026, a school with actual knowledge of sexual harassment must respond promptly, offer supportive measures and follow the grievance process in 106.45 before disciplining a respondent, apart from an emergency removal after an individualized safety and risk analysis | A rule that sexual harassment reports go to the Title IX coordinator before any discipline decision |
| Gun-Free Schools Act (20 U.S.C. 7961) | States receiving the funds must require expulsion of at least one year for a student who brings or possesses a firearm at school, which the district's chief administering officer may modify case by case in writing | Knowing the state's version and who in the district makes that decision |
| Student records (FERPA) | Rules on who may see and receive education records, including discipline records | What can be shared with other families, outside agencies and the school resource officer |
Mandated reporting of suspected abuse is also a day-one item. The Child Welfare Information Gateway's mandatory reporting resources link to each state's law.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Assistant Principal, [school]
Reports to: [principal] Start date: [date]
Portfolio: [e.g. discipline grades 9-10, attendance, testing, arrival/dismissal]
Observation caseload: [N] teachers Evaluation framework: [state / district]
Student information system: [name]
DAYS 1-30 — Agree the portfolio; make it safe and consistent
Goals:
- Sign off a written portfolio with the principal, including what
decisions the assistant principal makes alone and what they escalate
- Learn the code of conduct, the district discipline matrix and how
referrals and consequences are entered in the SIS
- Build a removal-day tracker for every student with an IEP or 504 plan
- Take over the supervision map: every post, every period, a cover plan
- Meet counselors, the special education coordinator, the 504
coordinator, the school psychologist and the resource officer if any
- Visit every caseload teacher's classroom informally
Deliverables by day 30:
- Discipline baseline: last year's and this year's referrals by type,
location, time and student group; suspensions by student group
- Signed portfolio and a supervision plan with no uncovered posts
Check-in: day 30, with principal
DAYS 31-60 — Run the systems; start the evaluation cycle
Goals:
- Complete first formal observations on the district timeline
- Hold attendance meetings for students on the chronic absence list
- Fix one behavior hot spot from the baseline (a hallway, a period,
the bus line) with the staff who supervise it
- Agree with the principal how discipline data will be reviewed
Deliverables by day 60:
- Observation schedule on track, with written feedback for each visit
- One hot-spot fix with a before-and-after referral count
Check-in: day 60
DAYS 61-90 — Report and improve
Goals:
- Present a discipline and attendance review, including a check for
differences by student group
- Lead one professional learning session connected to the principal's
instructional priority
- Write a plan for the owned areas for the rest of the year
Deliverables by day 90:
- Data review delivered to the leadership team
- Plan for the year agreed with the principal
Check-in: day 90 — full reviewWhat should the discipline baseline show?
The baseline is what lets the assistant principal fix causes rather than incidents. These are examples of what to pull from the student information system; use the definitions your state and district already report.
| Area | Example measures | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Referrals | Count by type, location, time of day and referring staff member | Clusters by place and time, which point to supervision or routine fixes |
| Consequences | In-school and out-of-school suspensions, removals, expulsions | Whether similar behavior gets similar consequences |
| Student groups | The same measures by race, disability status, English learner status and grade | Differences large enough to need an explanation |
| Students with disabilities | Running removal days per student this year | Students approaching 10 days |
| Attendance | Students meeting the state's chronic absence definition | Grades or groups where absence is concentrated |
How should a principal use the plan in the final interview?
Ask finalists to bring a one-page plan for a portfolio you describe, then spend most of the time on scenarios, scored with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. The interview guide for school administrators covers the rest of the loop. Scenarios that show whether the candidate can do this job:
- "A student with an IEP has eight days of suspension this year and was just in a fight. Walk me through the next 48 hours." Listen for the removal count, the change-of-placement question and the special education coordinator, before any consequence.
- "A parent reports that her daughter is being harassed by a classmate in text messages and at lunch." Listen for the Title IX coordinator and supportive measures, not an immediate suspension.
- "Referrals from one teacher are three times anyone else's. What do you do?"
- "What would you not change in your first semester?"
What should each check-in cover?
| Checkpoint | Questions to ask | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | "Show me the tracker. Which students are closest to 10 days?" | Portfolio signed; tracker current; supervision covered; caseload classrooms visited | No tracker; the assistant principal learns of IDEA timelines from a complaint |
| Day 60 | "Where do referrals cluster, and what did you change?" | Observations on schedule; one hot-spot fix with a count before and after | Observation deadlines at risk; discipline handled case by case with no pattern work |
| Day 90 | "What does the data say about consistency across student groups?" | Review delivered with explanations and actions; year plan agreed | Numbers presented with no interpretation, or not presented |
A filled example
Assistant principal: Marcus Bell (invented), a former instructional coach starting in August as one of two assistant principals at a 1,100-student middle school, owning discipline for grades 7 and 8, attendance and arrival and dismissal.
Day 30: Built the removal tracker and found two students with IEPs already at seven and nine days from short removals the previous office manager had not counted together. Met the special education coordinator to plan reviews for both. Referral data showed most grade 8 referrals happening in the ten minutes after lunch near one stairwell.
Day 60: With the grade 8 team, moved two adults to the stairwell and staggered lunch release by a few minutes. Referrals from that location fell over the next four weeks. First observations for his caseload were done on time.
Day 90: His data review showed students with disabilities receiving out-of-school suspension more often than peers for similar referral types; the leadership team agreed to review consequences for those referral types each month. He led a session on routines for the first five minutes of class, which supported the principal's engagement priority.
What does the principal owe the new assistant principal?
- A written portfolio and a clear line on which decisions need the principal, such as long suspensions, recommendations for expulsion and staff discipline.
- Training on the evaluation framework and any state certification required to evaluate teachers.
- Introductions to the district's special education, Title IX and student services contacts.
- Protection from becoming the permanent substitute for every gap in the building.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Result | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No written portfolio | Everything becomes the assistant principal's job | Sign it in week one |
| Consequences decided before checking IEP and 504 status | Missed manifestation reviews and disputes with families | Tracker checked before every suspension |
| Discipline as the whole job | Observations late, no instructional credibility with teachers | Block observation time on the calendar |
| Reacting to incidents only | The same stairwell, the same period, every week | Use the baseline to fix locations and routines |
How do you adapt the plan?
- Elementary schools: fewer formal referrals, more family contact and behavior support plans; the counselor partnership matters most, and the 30-60-90 day plan for school counselors shows their side.
- High schools: add the master schedule, credit recovery and athletics eligibility if they are in the portfolio.
- First-year administrators: pair the plan with a mentor assistant principal from another school and check the evaluation caseload size before assigning it.
New teachers in the assistant principal's caseload follow the 30-60-90 day plan for teachers, which gives both sides the same milestones for the first observation cycle.
Questions people ask
What should a new assistant principal focus on in the first 30 days?
Agree a written list of the areas they own with the principal, learn the code of conduct and how discipline is entered in the student information system, set up a tracker of removal days for students with IEPs and 504 plans, take over a supervision schedule, and visit the classrooms of the teachers they will evaluate. Changes to school-wide systems usually wait until after the day-30 check-in.
Why does an assistant principal need to track suspension days for students with disabilities?
Under the IDEA regulations, as of October 2026, a removal of more than 10 consecutive school days, or a series of removals that totals more than 10 school days in a year and forms a pattern, is a change of placement (34 CFR 300.536). A decision to change placement for a conduct violation triggers a manifestation determination within 10 school days (34 CFR 300.530(e)). The assistant principal who handles discipline needs to know each student's running total before deciding a consequence. This is not legal advice.
How is an assistant principal's 30-60-90 day plan different from a principal's?
A principal's plan covers the whole school and one instructional priority. An assistant principal's plan covers an assigned portfolio, often discipline, attendance, supervision, testing or a grade band, plus a caseload of teacher observations, and it is judged on whether those systems run reliably and support the principal's priority.
Who should run an assistant principal's 30, 60 and 90 day check-ins?
The principal, because the assistant principal's work is defined by the principal's delegation. Where the district evaluates assistant principals centrally, the principal supervisor can join the day-90 review so the goals feed the formal evaluation.