Examining the Assistant Principalship

New Puzzles and Perennial Challenges for the 21st Century

Edited by:
Alan R. Shoho, University of Texas at San Antonio
Bruce G. Barnett, University of Texas at San Antonio
Autumn K. Tooms, Kent State University

A volume in the series: International Research on School Leadership. Editor(s): David Gurr, University of Melbourne, Australia. Elizabeth T. Murakami, University of North Texas.

Published 2011

This edited book highlights the importance and complexity of the assistant principalship. As noted in all the chapters, the assistant principal is a critical partner in creating a professional learning community that serves all students well. Often neglected or ignored in the literature, assistant principals are more than disciplinarians and student or building managers. In the best of all worlds, they provide the professional support and partnership with their principals to create high-performing schools. Unfortunately, as noted in some of the chapters, the ideal and actual roles that assistant principals exercise often create a gap that seethes with disillusionment and dissatisfaction. The challenge for the profession is to better align the roles and expectations of assistant principals so that they can experience the best of being a school leader.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgment. Introduction, Alan R. Shoho, Bruce G. Barnett, and Autumn K. Tooms. Factors that Influence the Preparedness of Teachers for the Vice-Principal Role, Suzanne P. Read. Critical Advice from Practicing Assistant Principals for Assistant Principal Preparation Programs, Steven D. Busch, Angus J. MacNeil, and M. Sarah Baraniuk. Assistant Principals in Hong Kong: Their Responsibility, Role Alignments, and Job Satisfaction, Paula Kwan and Allan Walker. Challenges to School Leadership Practice: Examining the Assistant Principalship (Deputy Headship) in the United States, UK, and China, Teri Denlea Melton, Barbara J. Mallory, Russell Mays, and Lucindia Chance. The New Urgency of Vice-Principalship: Ethical Decision Making, Heather Rintoul. The Quiet Roar: Assistant Principals Leading for Social Justice, Christa Boske and Lillian Benavente-McEnery. Sharing Instructional Leadership as Assistant Principals in an Accountability-Oriented Environment, Anna Sun. Biographical Sketches.

REVIEWS
"The book chapters are well organized and structured, enabling the readers to benefit from a host of ideas, insights and empirical data. The book is highly recommended for policy-makers, principals, teachers, and above all, assistant principals who want to better realize the complexity, preparation, practice, and varied nature of the assistant principalship. One of the strengths of this book is the geographical variety of its chapters, which yields data drawn from myriad sources and different educational contexts across the globe. Additionally, the combination of both faculty and practitioners in the authorship of the book chapters is praiseworthy, as it contributes very much to the scholarship of the assistant principalship." Izhar Oplatka in TC Record