Assistant Principals: Their Readiness as Instructional Leaders

ABSTRACT

This article reports findings from a study investigating the capacity of assistant principals to be instructional leaders. Analyses of survey responses yielded four interesting findings: (a) years of experience as a teacher and age had no significance on assistant principals’ perceived readiness as an instructional leader; (b) those completing redesigned programs focused on instructional leadership reported feeling less prepared that those completing programs before the mandated redesign (c) although instructional leadership was a work responsibility, 63% did not know what portion of their performance evaluation assessed that performance; and (d) mentoring for instructional leadership most often occurred through informal meetings with their principal.

Notes

¹ This operational definition is based on a comprehensive review of literature on leading learning and teaching in P-12 schools. The four themes appearing in italics are based on Kenneth Leithwood and Karen Seashore Louis’ book, Linking Leadership to Student Learning (2012), published by Jossey-Bass