What should an assistant principal know

May 20, Good evening Mr. Parker, I hope all is well. I started listening to your podcast about a year ago and just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work and insight. I wanted to reach out to you to ask your advice. I am about to start my first full time administrative role as an assistant principal at a local high school. I was wondering if you have any resources or tips for my first year?

Thank you in advance! When I reached back to D. For the next 35 minutes, we talked through several ideas that may be helpful for you or someone you know who is stepping into his or her first year as an assistant principal:. First I shared a few book suggestions.

Kafele is a popular read among many new assistant principals I follow online. I also sent D. Parker, with new school leaders. Although I cannot give it away to everyone, I like sharing it with many of the principals I coach.

I began this book as I was finishing my ninth year as an assistant principal and was stepping into my first year as a high school principal.

In addition, here are two non-education reads that may help you re-think approaches to organizational leadership:.

Collins is a study of the common traits among highly successful leaders — what they focused to lead successful organization and what they did not allow to distract them. Melissa Kelly. Education Expert. Melissa Kelly, M. Updated February 20, State Employment 1 Employment per thousand jobs Annual mean wage Texas 24, 2. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Kelly, Melissa. Supports for Special Education Students. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for ThoughtCo.

At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. New York. Often you get to help guide the direction of the school but you still have many opportunities to be in the classroom and connect with kids, more so than a principal.

That being said, I believe that a principal can still connect with kids in many ways , but in my experience, they have a lot more meetings and have to be out of school a lot more. I have been blessed to have worked with an amazing principal who had taught me a lot and even though we would argue a lot , it was always about figuring out what was best for the school.

My two years with him was probably one of the best learning experiences that I have ever had and I still connect with him all of the time when I need help because he always focuses on what is best for kids. On the other side of the coin, as a school principal, I was blessed to work with amazing vice principals who pushed me to be better.

They challenged me to be better, but they were also sponges. They were always open to learn and develop; not only from what I would share to them, but from the experiences that they had with staff, students, and parents.

Thinking about the work that I have seen from many staff in Parkland School Division, here are some of the other qualities that I noticed the most successful ones have all had:. Self-starters — There is often a misperception that a principal should be delegating tasks to the leadership team and I guess sometimes this does happen. With that being said, I rarely had to ever ask my leadership team to do anything because they were already jumping on every opportunity to do different things for our school.

Not only did she come up with the idea, but she worked with every single grade to ensure that the day was a success. Being able to be actively lead initiatives and work alongside teachers gave them instant credibility. Did they love doing that work? Probably not. Determined to work towards success.