The Role of the Assistant Principal (PDF)

							L e a d e r s h i p 	 m at t e r s



The	Role	of	the	
Assistant	Principal




the	u.s.	department	of	Labor	                  principals for a few years while preparing           Evelyn Edney, the principal at Howard
(doL)	describes	the	roLe	of the                to become principals, while others remain        says, “Mitchell Weiss is more than an as-
assistant principal as aiding the princi-      as assistant principals for the rest of their    sistant. He is like having another principal
pal in the overall administration of the       careers.                                         around me. When my three assistant princi-
school—such a simple description for a job         All across the country, there are a          pals sit at the table to make decisions, we do
filled with complexity. Assistant principals   number of outstanding assistant principals       it as a team, a unit. Assistant principals are
may be responsible for tasks that include      serving their schools, and the National          invaluable to the smooth operations in the
scheduling classes, ordering textbooks and     Association of Secondary School Princi-          running of a school. Mitch is top notch and
supplies, and coordinating transportation,     pals (NASSP) recognizes these individuals        makes everyday decisions that I do not even
custodial, cafeteria and other support ser-    through its annual award program. The            have to think about. When I give Mitch a
vices. Responsibility for student discipline   NASSP State and National Assistant Prin-         task, it will get completed and then some!”
and attendance problems, as well as health     cipal of the Year Award Program honors               Weiss notes that the tasks associated
and safety matters, often rests on the         “outstanding secondary school leaders            with his job tend to fall into two broad cat-
shoulders of the assistant principal. They     who have succeeded in providing high-qual-       egories—instructional and organizational.
also may offer personal, educational and       ity learning opportunities for students.”        He describes the organizational items as
career counseling to students.                 Recipients of the award have demonstrated        those responsibilities that serve to support
    While small schools may have a single      excellence in areas that include collaborative   the climate of the school and the well-
assistant principal, the number on staff       leadership, personalization, curriculum, in-     being of its students, including guidance,
usually depends on the number of students      struction and assessment. In 2008, Mitchell      discipline, testing, student supervisions
enrolled at the school; where the job          Weiss of Howard High School of Technol-          and interactions with the community.
takes them depends on the individuals.         ogy was named the assistant principal of the         “The challenge I often see is to man-
The DOL notes that some are assistant          year for the state of Delaware.                  age these important responsibilities in

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L e a d e r s h i p 	 m at t e r s


                                                                                                 the job at least somewhat prepared for all
                                                                                                 of the new challenges they will face.”
                                                                                                     Another path an assistant principal
                                                                                                 might take is to move into a leadership
                                                                                                 role outside the school but still within the
                                                                                                 district. Weiss notes that this might be
                                                                                                 an instructional position, a supervisory
                                                                                                 position, or some combination of the two.
                                                                                                 He believes that an ideal position for many
                                                                                                 assistant principals following this avenue
                                                                                                 would allow for instructional leadership
                                                                                                 across several schools without isolating
                                                                                                 them from the teachers and students.
                                                                                                     “Assistant principals who move outside
                                                                                                 the school still need to get into schools,
                                                                                                 work with teachers and students, and use
                                                                                                 those practical ‘nuts and bolts’ skills they
                                                                                                 worked so hard to develop as a school
                                                                                                 administrator,” Weiss says.
                                                                                                     Weiss notes that being an administrator
                                                                                                 in a career and technical school is really
                                                                                                 different from working in a traditional
an efficient manner that allows me to           focus on in my seven years as an assistant       school, largely in the breadth of content
focus on what I enjoy most as an assistant      principal is how I use my time in school.        awareness that is needed. He supervises
principal—the opportunity to provide            More than ever, I now try to develop             both academic areas and career-tech areas.
instructional leadership,” says Weiss. “I am    simple rather than complex plans, I try to           “Welding is completely different from
lucky enough to work at a school that pro-      prioritize on what’s most important, not         culinary arts, and nursing is completely
vides both opportunities for professional       what’s most immediate, and when I can, I         different from software, and plumbing
development and a staff that is strongly        try to delegate.”                                is completely different from electronics,”
interested in getting better every day.”           One of the things he has learned: The         explains Weiss, who also has a background
    The jobs of teachers and administrators     more time he spends informally in classes,       as an English teacher. “Although there are
are very challenging, but for Weiss, work-      the fewer e-mails and drop-in meetings           many, many similarities between the knowl-
ing in collaboration with other teachers        he has later on. He also finds that consis-      edge needed to run a successful career class,
and administrators on a daily basis to solve    tent communication with instructors can          there are some legitimate differences as well.
any problems the school might face is what      prevent many problems that could have            It is imperative that new assistant principals
makes it so rewarding. “There are few things    become hugely time-consuming problems            in career and technical schools take the
more gratifying than when a new program,        at a later date. Weiss feels that a great deal   time to learn about the careers they super-
curriculum or instructional strategy begins     can be learned from being an assistant           vise. Only then will they have the skills
to show results, and I know that my teachers    principal; he has been lucky enough to           necessary to give back to the career and
are helping students in a way that has never    have had many different responsibilities         help the instructor to even greater success.”
happened in the past,” Weiss explains.          over the years, including being a supervi-           There is one more responsibility that
    There is one challenge to the job that      sor of approximately 15 different career         Weiss feels is important in his position,
Weiss says supersedes everything else—          and technical areas. Being an assistant          and that is to educate others about career
time. While he believes that almost any         principal also opens up other avenues of         and technical education. “Many people
problem can be solved given sufficient time     opportunity, including a job as a principal.     outside of technical schools don’t under-
to tackle it, he adds, “Unfortunately, there       “In the best situations, assistant princi-    stand what we do or what our mission is,”
is just never enough time to do everything      pals have been constantly prepared for this      he says. “It is important for the continued
an assistant principal wants to do to meet      change by their principals through the re-       health of our programs that we continually
the needs of students and staff. As a result,   sponsibilities assigned to them over time,”      demonstrate for those outside the system
one of the items I’ve put more and more         says Weiss. “That way, assistants arrive in      just what an added value we bring.”

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