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.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Ron Pinnell
Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter 1 – Building a Principal-Assistant Principal Partnership Team
School Leadership as a Collective Process
School Leadership as the Development of Personal Qualities
Building the Principal-Assistant Principal Team
Keys to Building a High Performing Principal-Assistant Principal Leadership Team
The Power of “WE”
The Power of Communication
The Power of Mistakes
Principal-Assistant Principal Relationship Traps
The Loyalty Trap
The Good Cop-Bad Cop Trap
The Principal as Leader-Assistant Principal as Manager Trap
Chapter 2 – Managing Change in the Principalship
Principal Expectations
Be a Partner
Be a Teacher
Be a Listener
Be a Learner
Assistant Principal Expectations
Be a Partner
Be a Mentor
Chapter 3 – Finding and Keeping Your Unique Leadership Voice
Position Power and Leadership Voice
Advanced Degrees and Lifelong Learning
The Principal and Leadership Voice
Standards of Evidence and Leadership Voice
Keeping Your Leadership Voice
Chapter 4 Expert Power v. Position Power
Position Power and School Safety
Position Power and Routine Management Tasks
The Entitlement Trap
The Assistant Principal and Expert Power
The Assistant Principal and Charismatic Power
Chapter 5 – Building Faculty Trust and Commitment
Building Faculty Partnerships
Making Faculty Issues the Principal’s Solution
Making Faculty Issues Assistant Principal’s Issues
Making Consistency, Transparency, and Trust the Hallmark of Faculty Interaction
Destroying Faculty Trust
The Inconsistency Trap
The Isolation Trap
The Ignorance Trap
Chapter 6 – The Teacher’s Union: Opportunity or Adversity
Faculty Traps
Trap 1: The Chip on the Shoulder
Trap 2: Whose Side Am I On?
Trap 3: I Think I Know the Contract
Trap 4: It’s Just About the Money
Responding to Contract Violation Inquiries
Salary, Working Conditions, and Job Satisfaction
Teaching, Learning, Student Achievement and Job Satisfaction
Union-Administration Action Plan
Chapter 7Leading from the Middle
Leading From the Middle – Closer to the Action
Leading From the Middle – Delegation as Opportunity
Leading From the Middle – the Eyes and Ears of the Principal
Leading from the Middle is Trust in the Middle
Leading from the Middle is Communication, Consistency, and Transparency from the Middle
Communication and Confidentiality
Chapter 8 Leading Up – Building Commitment and Support From Your Superiors
Leadership Orientation
Leading Up – Strategies That Impact
Lead Up By Modeling
Lead up from the Foundation You are Given
Lead Up Through Teacher Evaluations
Lead Up By Networking
Building Formal Networks
Building Informal Networks
The Assistant Principal Network
The Interdisciplinary Network
Lead Up By Creating a Unique “To Do” List
Chapter 9 The 50% Rule
Prioritizing Time for Leadership
The Leadership Log
The 50% Rule
Chapter 10Managing Student Conduct v. Leading Students
Move From an Informal Curriculum on Values To a Formal Curriculum Values
Move From Mass Production To Mass Customization
Move From Consistency and Transparency in the Outcome To Consistency and Transparency in the Process
Move From School as a Monarchy Run by Adults To School as a Mini-Democracy Run by All
Move From Teaching Student Compliance as a Way to Stay Out of Trouble To Student Compliance as a Symbol of a Personal Code of Ethics
Chapter 11 – Building Family and Community Partnerships
Inviting Engagement v. Building Bridges that Require Engagement
Holding Family and Community Events v. Building Bridges to Family and Community Partnerships
Delegating Community Involvement to Others v. Building a Bridge of Leadership Accountabilit
It’s All About Relationships
Building Sustainable Partnerships
Chapter 12 – Policies, Procedures, and the Law
The Assistant Principal and Student Rights
Reasonable Suspicion v, Probable Cause
A Question of Balance
Viewpoint Discrimination
The Assistant Principal and Teacher Rights
The Assistant Principal and Teacher Contracts
Chapter 13 – The Assistant Principal and School Levels
The Elementary Assistant Principal: Overview
The Elementary Assistant Principal: Challenges and Opportunities
The Middle School Assistant Principal: Overview
The Middle School Assistant Principal: Challenges and Opportunities
The High School Assistant Principal: Overview
The High School Assistant Principal: Challenges and Opportunities
Chapter 14 – Pursuing the Principalship
Appendix – Professional Organizations
Bibliography
About the Author :
Chris Colwell is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Stetson University. His 37 year career includes serving as a principal at all levels of P-12 education as well as being recognized as the Florida Secondary School Principal of the Year and as the President of the Florida Organization of Instructional Leaders.
Review :
Impact: How Assistant Principals Can Be High Performing Leaders, provides a wealth of important information and strategies to assist those leading at the heart the organization. Focusing on assistant principals, in particular, is long overdue. Dr. Chris Colwell shares a wealth of practical applications in concert with supported scholarly research to address what is necessary to be a successful assistant principal in the 21st Century. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone currently in school leadership positions, teaching leadership or simply interested in school leadership.
As a conduit between the principal and faculty within schools, the assistant principal has the power to change school culture, improve teaching and learning, and build bridges that may have previously burned or had never built. Through this book, school leaders will learn how to accomplish this by prioritizing what is most important at the forefront of all of their decisions: teaching and learning. With specific ‘traps’ indicated, challenges identified and purpose (mission, vision) articulated, the strategies offered have the potential to transform the role of assistant principal, from manager to educational leader, strengthening the foundation that students stand upon as they begin their journey toward becoming educated citizens.
In his well thought out and written book, Impact: How Assistant Principals Can Be High Performing Leaders, Dr. Chris Colwell writes on a topic not often touched on in education circles, the assistant principal. The market is flooded with articles and books on the principalship but not on the assistant. Dr. Colwell has been there as a teacher, assistant principal and principal and knows what he is talking about concerning the assistant principalship. This is a very easy to read and understand book for the practitioner. Impact is an extremely useful book that would be beneficial to read for the want to be assistant principals, current assistant principals and principals.
Chris Colwell offers an amazing insight into today's world of educational leadership, specifically, the possibilities surrounding the position of assistant principal. Based on his expertise, knowledge and research, Chris writes an insightful account of exactly what it takes to become a high performing assistant principal. It is a clear and concise guide to successful school leadership. Impact: How Assistant Principal's Can Be High Performing Leaders is a must read for all those aspiring to becoming world class school leaders of the future.
Chris Colwell's Impact provides a realistic look at the roles and responsibilities that today’s assistant principals’ face in an era of increased pressure and accountability. I really see this book as a perfect textbook for an introduction to the principalship course, to prepare aspiring administrators for the realities of the position they are seeking. Not much GOOD research is done on how important assistant principals can be to the success of schools, and Colwell's book provides poignant, candid, and thought-provoking reflection on how important and critical the role of the assistant principal really is.
