This edited book highlights the importance and complexity of the assistant principalship. As noted in all the chapters, the assistant principal is a critical partner in creating a professional learning community that serves all students well. Often neglected or ignored in the literature, assistant principals are more than disciplinarians and student or building managers. In the best of all worlds, they provide the professional support and partnership with their principals to create high-performing schools. Unfortunately, as noted in some of the chapters, the ideal and actual roles that assistant principals exercise often create a gap that seethes with disillusionment and dissatisfaction. The challenge for the profession is to better align the roles and expectations of assistant principals so that they can experience the best of being a school leader.

Provides a structure for learning and growth that connects theory with practice, whether the assistant principal is already 'on the job' or enrolled in a preparation program.

Weller and Weller (2002) stated that the assistant principalship is the gateway to school administration. The position of the assistant principal looks very different pending the setting and leadership of the principal (Burdett & Schertzer, 2005; Goodson, 2000, Marshall & Hooley, 2006). In this dissertation, a quantitative examination was employed to examine how the assistant principals perceived their preparedness to attain a school principalship. Additionally, this study investigated to find if a relationship between specific leadership styles (distributive, transactional, laissez-faire, and transformational) and the preparedness of assistant principals was present. The participants for this quantitative study consisted of 100 practicing 7-12 high school assistant principals in the state of Missouri. Data collection methods included a researcher created survey identifying the perceived leadership style of their principal as well as their perceived preparedness to fill the role of principal. The data revealed distributive leadership as the style most employed by the high school principals. Overall the assistant principals perceive they are prepared to assume the role of principal. However, there is a discrepancy in assistant principal's perceived preparedness in the area of instructional leadership as compared to disciplinarian and managerial skills. Overall, the distributive leadership style was shown to be the most effective method employed to increase preparedness of the assistant principal to fulfill the role of principal in the areas of disciplinarian and supervisor of students. The implications for practice may impact the preparatory program of principals, as the programs seek ways to improve assistant principal training at the university level. In addition, there is a need to improve the mentorship of assistant principals by the principal examining how the principal can share in more depth the role and responsibilities of instructional leadership. To increase the preparedness of the assistant high school principal for the role of principal a myriad of roles and responsibilities, beyond disciplinarian and supervisor of students must be provided.

This book makes a much needed contribution to what we know about the role and work of the assistant principal. It offers terri c insights into the different challenges one faces after being appointed assistant principal, and it provides readers with a rich array of data regarding the mental, emotional, social, and physical adjustments accompanying one’s transition to this new role. The author refreshingly moves beyond mere description of what assistant prin- pals do as they make their transition to that role, and actually helps us gain a sense of the lived experience of becoming and being an assistant principal. The book gives a realistic picture of the cognitive, social, and emotional con icts and confusions, the daily ups and downs, the fears, frustrations, and highs that are experienced by the men and women undertaking the passage from teaching to administration. This book is distinctive for a number of reasons. It is an empirical study of the role of the assistant principal. There are comparatively few helpful studies, and P- fessor Armstrong’s research adds a solid and much needed addition to that body of work. It focuses on the transition from being a teacher to being an assistant prin- pal, and it reveals much about how the assistant principal’s role transition differs markedly from that of the school principal.

Far too little attention has been paid to the role that assistant principals have in the development of high performing schools. Impact provides specific, practical, and replicable leadership strategies for today’s assistant principal. Impact describes how to build meaningful principal/assistant principal leadership teams. The opportunities that assistant principals have to be the instructional leader of the school and the voice of the faculty, and the principal; in other words, how to “lead from the middle” are examined. Impact is a practitioner’s guide for the assistant principal striving to be a school leader. Target audiences include teachers wishing to become assistant principals, current assistant principals looking to excel and lead careers of significance, colleges of education working with graduate students who are being trained in P-12 school administration, and sitting school principals looking to expand the often under-utilized, potential of the assistant principal. This book examines the art and science of the assistant principal as a school leader; as a leader who impacts the lives of teachers and students. Great assistant principals matter.

The assistant principal is often overlooked in school leadership literature, yet in recent years has grown to be a vital part of secondary schools (Marshall & Hooley, 2006). This descriptive study seeks to expand on the work of Marshall and Hooley (2006), which serves as a primer in the study of assistant principals. In an era of increased accountability, this study explores how assistant principals balance the needs of students, teachers, parents, and constituents? This descriptive study seeks to understand the work that secondary school assistant principals do, how assistant principals are trained, the challenges they face, and their job satisfaction in a midsized Midwestern city. This study explores assistant principals from grades six through twelve with various levels of education, experience, and career aspirations to build a deeper understanding of their roles as assistant principals.

Written for principals and assistant principals to read and reflect on together, this book describes the most common challenges facing today’s assistant principals – and provides practical solutions. Authors Carole Goodman and Christopher Berry examine how principals and assistant principals can develop the kinds of relationships that serve to meet the needs of students, staff, and parents. Contents include: The Difference between the Principal’s Job and the Assistant Principal’s Job, The Assistant Principal Role: What the Students Need, The Assistant Principal Role: What the Staff Needs, and Principal and Assistant Principal Communication: The Honest High-Wire Act.