The Assistant Principal as Instructional Leader: The Redesign of the AP Position in the 21st Century

Every campus leader is critical in supporting student achievement, most notably the principal and the often-unnoticed assistant principal (AP). The problem this study addresses is the lack of advancement in the AP’s role as an instructional leader in light of educational reform and the demands of the 21st century. To address this issue, the purpose of this study was to mine the literature to understand the role of the AP. A semi-systematic review of the limited literature on this topic indicated the AP, whose role has historically been a manager and disciplinarian, must be redefined to reflect an instructional and equitable leader actively seeking to ensure access and opportunity for all students. These findings suggest that the AP should be duly prepared and supported as teaching, learning, and educational leadership continue to evolve in these extraordinary times. Based on a synthesis of the literature, we argue for a revision of the outdated AP role to one more reflective of increased awareness regarding instructional leadership, student diversity, equity, and access within the current educational environment of standards-based reform.

Assistant Principal Mobility and Its Relationship With Principal Turnover

Assistant principals (APs) are important education personnel, but empirical evidence about their career outcomes remains scarce. Using administrative data from Tennessee and Missouri, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of AP mobility. While prior work focuses on promotions into principal positions, we also examine APs exiting school leadership and transferring across schools. We find yearly mobility rates of 25% to 28%, with 10% of APs leaving school leadership, 7.5% changing schools, and 7.5% to 10% becoming principals. We also document a strong relationship between AP mobility and principal turnover, where higher-performing APs are substantially more likely to replace their departing principal. Finally, principal transitions appear to increase the likelihood that APs exit school leadership and change schools.

Breadth and depth

Karen Hart talks to Daniel Brett, assistant principal at Bishop Burton College, in East Riding about uptake of the new T Level in Childcare and its potential to boost recruitment and professionalism in the sector.

Perceptions of Leadership Identification: A Collective Autoethnographical Study

Through a collaborative autoethnographic approach, a former principal, current principal, current assistant principal, and aspiring principal recount their experiences pertaining to identification of leadership talent. As identified through previous research, proper identification or talent is the first major component to quality succession planning. Data were collected through individual reflections and group discussions and triangulated to published documents from the school district. Positive and negative aspects were identified, including personal experiences and perceptions of district-wide initiatives. Divergent viewpoints were most notable among levels of experience. The former principal focused on systems aspects, the current principals concentrated on aspects that affected them directly or in which they had influence. The aspiring principal addressed the issues from the point of view of a teacher who had limited exposure to several aspects. Limitations and potential biases were acknowledged and recommendations for future research were provided, including expansion as a case study or phenomenology.

Grover Schiltz

Grover Schiltz was one of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s longest-serving members, from 1959 until his retirement in 2005. He played assistant principal oboe until 1964 and served as principal English horn from 1964 to 2005. In this interview, he discussed warming up, technique, breathing, breath control, and vibrato. He provided advice on reeds, auditions, how to prepare for a performance, and tone production. He talked about the differences in performance between oboe and English horn. He offered advice how to teach musicianship, the nature of talent, and Baroque ornamentation. He shared which artists inspired him, reminiscences about his greatest concerts, and his observations on how the American style changed during his career.

Using the Hiring Process to Improve the Cultural Responsiveness of Schools

This case highlights a high school that struggles with inequities perpetuated by a noninclusive environment. To help confront these issues, the school will hire an assistant principal of diversity. Readers are presented with a dilemma concerning the legality of hiring based on race and research that supports the benefits of racial congruency between administrators, students, and faculty. Readers are then challenged to use the hiring process to first reflect on the school’s state of affairs, have the courageous conversations to chart a different path, and ultimately hire someone with the mind-set that can help the school do so.

Losing STEAM: A Case Study of Failure in School Reform

This study examines issues encountered during a school’s first year implementing science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) curriculum. The school year began with multiple changes in leadership, including the appointment of a School Operations Manager and Teacher on Special Assignment, who took on respective roles of principal and assistant principal. Tension between school and district leadership, a teacher’s arrest, and lack of adequate training for the school’s teachers contributed to the failure of the eighth-grade level’s first-quarter STEAM unit. This study delves into events leading up to—and tensions surrounding—the team’s decision to begin a new unit in the second quarter.

Personality Traits and Leadership Styles and Management of the School Principals and Assistant Principals of MSU Community High Schools: Basis for Training and Development

This study surveyed the personality traits and leadership and management styles of the school principals and assistant principals in the 13 MSU Community High Schools. Descriptive correlational research design was used to determine the extent relationship of the personality traits and leadership styles practice by the principal and assistant principal using survey questionnaires. Findings revealed that the principal and assistant principal possess different personality traits but the most common traits were task oriented, fast paced and task oriented, slow paced. Leadership styles practice by the principal and assistant principal also varies but the democratic leadership styles were mostly used and directing and coaching is their common managerial approach. Moreover, findings showed that the personality traits of the school principals and assistant principals have positive correlation to their leadership styles and the relationships are highly significant. On the basis of the findings, the study concluded that personality traits of a person have positive and significant influence to their leadership styles.This implies that leadership styles of a person are shape according to their personality traits.