Search

Although constituting a significant position in the daily practices and development of many school organizations, little is known regarding how the position of the deputy principal is organized. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Swedish principals organize for the deputy principal position by focusing on the triggers and factors constituting their sensemaking of the division of responsibilities. The paper provides an additional perspective by focusing on the interpretive aspects comprising the organizing processes. The paper draws from qualitative interview data from a larger study on deputy principals’ position in the Swedish school system. The results show how principals’ sensemaking is triggered by contextual cues and reform-driven factors that together create spaces of ambiguity in relation to the organizing of the deputy principals’ position. Principals make sense of these events based on personal- and identity-oriented beliefs, as well as frameworks and perceived expectations from municipal organizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on factor analyses of the Middle Leadership Roles Questionnaire – School Edition (MLRQ-SE) that were conducted to test a theoretical model. This work was completed as part of a larger study that investigated the roles of formal middle-leadership positions in public schools of New South Wales, Australia. Quantitative data from an adapted version of the MLRQ-SE, which was completed by 2608 employees in formal middle leader positions in NSW public schools, were factor analysed to identify theorised roles and thereby confirm an overarching model of middle leadership roles as well as assist with ongoing refinement of the instrument's scales. Exploratory factor analyses identified seven salient roles of middle leaders. Confirmatory factor analyses of data from the two largest position categories supported the seven-role model for assistant principals and head teachers. While the scales within the MLRQ-SE were based on a wide review of previous research, the data reported here is from one educational jurisdiction in one country. However, the findings provide evidence for the existence middle leader roles often theorised in literature but to date not confirmed empirically. The findings also hold implications for policy, practice and future research regarding leadership development and recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle leadership is a dynamic area of policy in Scottish and Irish education to build leadership capacity. This article reports on a critical policy analysis of sequential sets of Scottish and Irish policy on middle leadership to identify codes of meaning. Two aspects are reported: (1) constructions of the purposes of middle leadership and (2) key themes in changing policy paradigms. While there is a development of policy ideas from delegated tasks to management functions to leadership for learning, there is little on the practice of leading learning. The findings are reviewed to identify issues related to middle leadership professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case describes the dilemma of recently hired assistant principal, Fred Bates, who finds himself in a school with a negative and unsupportive school climate. There are significant trust issues between the teachers and principal. Bates struggles to navigate various obstacles and works to establish positive relationships with both his principal and the teachers. He begins to question his loyalty to the principal, and has ethical concerns as he realizes that the school principal has abused his power and damaged, at times intentionally, the trust and respect of the teachers. The principal reaps the repercussions of his unethical actions and is dismissed from the school. Bates is then appointed as the new interim principal, and he is left with the daunting task of rebuilding the trust and confidence of the teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education research has established a significant relationship between school leadership and students' achievement. This study considers the leadership self-efficacy and practice of assistant principals (AP) in public schools in the domains of facilitating a supportive and collaborative learning environment, instructional leadership, school improvement, management, and family and community relations, as perceived by APs' self-reports. The findings of this study suggest that, in addition to APs' strengths in the domain of facilitating a collaborative learning environment and efficacy around family and community engagement, there were explicit gaps in the instructional leadership and school improvement practices of APs that need to be addressed. The study also confirmed that there continue to be a proliferation of duties and a lack of a consistent set of practices for APs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to evaluate the principles' leadership practices on the assistant principals' leadership self-efficacy. The hypotheses of the qualitative research method were used in the study. The data of the study were obtained through two semi-structured interview forms were developed. One was applied to the six principals and the other one was to ten assistant principals in the secondary school in Ankara. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. In order to increase the internal validity of the study, themes and codes and the data analysis process were conducted with the help of experts who had experience in assessment and evaluation of qualitative researches. When the opinions of the participants were examined, it was seen that the strategies used by the principles in the development of the leadership role of assistant principals were various. When these strategies were examined, it was determined that there were behaviors such as giving challenging tasks, giving feedback, giving autonomy to them, encouraging, and praising them about the tasks they had completed. Moreover, it was understood that the assistant principals had an opportunity to co-learn with their colleagues on their daily tasks and these tasks supported their self-efficacy beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assistant principal plays a key role in school success but research suggests there are differences between principals and assistant principals in their perceptions of their roles. The 2011 Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning Kentucky survey responses of educator perceptions were statistically analyzed for the statewide sample of principals and assistant principals. Results indicate that principals and assistant principals reported significantly different perceptions regarding teacher leadership and school leadership. Differences in principal and assistant principal responses were not related to student achievement, however. Implications for collaborative engagement between principals and assistant principals as they focus on increasing school leadership and teacher effectiveness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the quantitative and G-theory methodologies, this study investigated the perceptions of assistant principals in the states of Pennsylvania and Texas about their evolving roles and responsibilities. The research results suggest there was consistency in terms of the importance of the 56 school activities to the success of schools in teaching and learning as rated by assistant principals. Most of the 56 activities were considered important to teaching and learning by assistant principals regardless of their gender, age, years in present position, and years of experience in education, although there was still some unexplained variability in each assistant principal's rater group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the independent effects of principal background, training and experience as well as teacher academic qualifications on school proficiency growth through time. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyzed the entire population of all elementary and middle schools in the state of Illinois, n=3,154 schools, from 2000 to 2001 through 2005-2006 using growth mixture modeling. The authors examined growth at the school level in the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards on the Illinois Standard Achievement Test, analyzing separate models for Chicago and non-Chicago schools. Findings – The results suggest that there are two statistically significantly different latent school proficiency trajectory subgroups through the six-year time period, one high and one low, for both Chicago and non-Chicago schools. In addition, the models suggest that teacher academic qualifications, principal training, principal experience as a principal and an assistant principal, and experience of the principal as a teacher previously in their schools are significantly related to school proficiency growth over time, dependent upon school context. Practical implications – Recent studies on the independent effects of principal experience, training and teacher academic qualifications have shown inconsistent results on school achievement growth. The authors demonstrate that principal training and background may have an effect on school-level proficiency score growth. Originality/value – This study is one of the first to examine statistically different proficiency growth trajectories using an entire state-wide data set over a long-term, six-year timeframe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high school drama coach informs assistant principal Laura Madison that the money students earned through fund-raising activities seems to have vanished and that the male assistant principal may be involved in the disappearance of the funds. Laura has to determine how to address this situation. She considers her past experiences with problematic practices related to school funds. She tries to figure out how to handle this unwanted problem in an ethical manner that will allow her to demonstrate professional responsibility without harming her career. This case can be used in a course on management of physical resources or on organizational leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novice assistant principal, eager to lead, begins her career as an administrator in school beset with problems and far removed from the textbook definitions of learning community. She works with inexperienced teachers, disillusioned veteran teachers, and a principal who is distracted and overwhelmed by personal concerns. Her suggestions are disregarded, her requests halfheartedly filled, and her mandates ignored. Drowning in paperwork, meetings, and administrivia, she wonders how and whether she can lead. Can a new assistant principal lead? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]