SLPS Competitive Exam study plan

Define school culture and vision in your own words and write a one-paragraph operational definition you can defend

Compare transformational, instructional, and distributed leadership models and list two concrete principal behaviors for each

Map the components of a positive school culture (shared norms, rituals, trust, safety, recognition) and rate your current or hypothetical school on each

Draft three vision-alignment moves that connect a school vision statement to observable staff and student behaviors

Analyze how a principal builds trust and handles resistance during change, listing at least five specific strategies

Identify the elements of an effective professional learning community cycle and describe how a principal facilitates it

Outline the principal's role in curriculum coherence: vertical alignment, standards unpacking, and pacing calibration

Explain how instructional leadership behaviors differ from managerial behaviors and give three examples of each in a school day

Describe the components of a high-quality classroom observation cycle from pre-conference to feedback to follow-up

Distinguish formative from summative evaluation purposes and match each to appropriate evidence

Draft feedback language that is specific, behavioral, and growth-oriented for two common teacher practice gaps

Explain how a principal supports differentiation, intervention tiers, and English learner instruction at the program level

Classify common assessment types (diagnostic, formative, interim, summative) by purpose, timing, and use

Interpret a sample data set: identify trends, gaps between subgroups, and one instructional implication

Describe how to run a data team meeting that ends with a specific action plan and owner

Explain the limits of data use, including sample size, bias, and avoiding deficit framing of students

Build a school budget aligned to a stated instructional priority and justify each reallocation

Explain how to conduct a staffing-needs analysis using enrollment, program, and equity data

Outline a recruitment, induction, and retention sequence for new teachers including mentoring and evaluation timelines

Describe how a principal manages facilities, scheduling, and vendor or operational risk within legal constraints

Design a family engagement strategy that moves beyond one-way communication to shared decision-making

Identify barriers to engagement for marginalized families and propose two concrete removals of those barriers

Apply an equity lens to a discipline, placement, or grading policy and name the disparate impact risk

Describe the principal's ethical obligations when staff or community norms conflict with policy or law

Summarize the principal's legal duties in the areas of student rights, due process, special education, and employee discipline

Identify the compliance documents and reporting deadlines a principal must monitor each year

Outline the four phases of crisis management: prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery

Draft the communication sequence for a crisis including staff, families, media, and district channels

Synthesize all nine domains into a single integrated leadership platform statement

Complete timed practice sets weighted to the heaviest domains and review every missed item for the underlying concept

Rehearse scenario-based responses that require combining two or more domains in one answer

Build a personal error log and convert each recurring error into a one-line rule for exam day