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Assistant Principal Perceptions: Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes for Effective Leadership.

Chapter 1-3 Dissertation Proposal DefenseUniversity of HoustonJanuary 21 ,2011Lonnie Clint Vick Jr.

Introduction

AP is the primary training ground for the Principalship (Madden, 2008)

Important for AP’s to understand the requirements of the Principalship.

Research indicates being an AP does not provide appropriate training (Fields 2000)

AP forces individual to become leader and manager in environment where there is only one leader (Hartley, 2009)

Introduction Continued

Bloom and Krovetz (2001) identified principal shortage as one of the reasons why AP is moved into principal position.

Lack of research for Assistant Principal.

AP is serving for short period of time and are assigned to a vary narrow range of responsibilities.

Problem

Principal shortage Changes in

expectation has created a shortage in knowledge of the position.

Ineffective university training and unprepared for the role.

Rapid advancement

Least researched position in administration

Assigned duties do not adequately prepare one for the role of principal

Problem

Skills required to be successful for AP lean more toward management than leadership.

Assistant Principal forces individual to be a manager and a leader in a relationship where there can only be one leader, the principal (Hartley, 2009)

Shortage of knowledge concerning the skills (Barth, 1990)

Problem Institute for Educational Leadership (2000) Survey of Superintendents showed 50%

reported a shortage of qualified candidates. Institute reported a rush to fill principal

positions is why AP’s receive little or no experience or adequate preparation.

During time a future principal spends as an assistant principal he or she is engaged in activities that offer little preparation for the kind of leadership expected of principals (Koru, 1993)

Purpose

To add research to the field of Assistant Principal

To answer the question of the needed knowledge, skills, and attributes truly needed to be an effective leader in the AP position and beyond.

Using research make recommendations toward the improvement of the Assistant Principal for the changing 21st century.

Research Questions

What is the perceived knowledge needed to be an effective assistant principal?

What is the skills set needed to be an effective assistant principal?

What are the attributes needed to be an effective assistant principal?

Significance of Study

Focus in and determine the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to be an effective assistant principal that aims to become a recognized instructional leader working to improve student academic performance.

Add needed research to the field of assistant principal

Improve professional development of the assistant principal position

Significance of the Study

Lezotte (1992) stated an essential component to the effective school research is the presence of instructional leadership.

First the AP has to prove to the Principal that they can stay afloat with management tasks.

Secondly, the AP has to prove to the Principal that they are dedicated to school improvement through enhancements in instruction (Hartley, 2009)

Review of Literature Sections

Leadership Standards (National, State) Important Knowledge of the Assistant Principal

(role, responsibilities, curriculum, law) Important Skills of the Assistant Principal

(Leadership, Theories, Management, Communication, and Interpersonal)

Important Attributes Needed (Positive disposition, organization, Vision, ethics, values)

Preparation for the Principalship Research studies on the Assistant Principal Summary

Standards

National Leadership Policy Standards Interstate School Leaders Licensure

Consortium (ISLLC, 2008) National Policy Board for Educational

Administration. Wallace Foundation, 2010 State Standards

Role of Assistant Principal Decided by the Principal Student discipline, activities, and

attendance looked at more than instruction

Over time more management tasks handed down.

New emphasis on Instruction Women seen more of an instructional

leader and working with teachers.

Leadership versus Management Proactive vs. Reactive Communication Research on the topics Definitions Misalignment between perceived

tasks of AP and what is needed.

Leadership versus Management Managers work closely with others and

their effectiveness largely depends on their specialized knowledge and their interpersonal skills (Weller, 2002)

AP is constantly bombarded with daily tasks, effectiveness in these situations require conflict management skills, good listening and communication skills, and ability to empathize and respect the opinions of others (Weller, 2002).

Leadership versus Management Leadership is communicating to people their

worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it themselves (Covey, 2004).

Covey goes on to explain that this type of Leadership is the one that influences and endures.

A new type of leadership which involves less management and more motivation and coaching is known as level five executive leadership according to (Collins, 2001).

Theories This section will look at different theories on

leadership and how they are applied to education and hopefully the role of the assistant principal.

This will include comparison of supervision and evaluation

Transformational Leadership is characterized as an change agent and is relevant to the current climate of schools, especially with the increased demands to do more with less (Gurr, 2000)

Transformational Leadership Technical – sound management Human - Interpersonal Educational – Knowledge needed Symbolic – modeling of desired

behaviors Cultural – Values, belief systems

Preparation of the Principal Lack of training Duties performed as AP not adequately preparing

AP’s for the Principal position Misalignment Succession Planning

The opinion may be that assistant principals are trying to train teachers instructionally when they do not know what is happening in the classroom (Hartley, 2009)

Assistant Principal is viewed as more of an asset outside of the classroom.

Research

Look at Research studies that have been done on the assistant principal with a focus on the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to be an Assistant Principal and Leader.

Research 1960’s survey by Austin and Brown (1970)

reported that 83% of AP’s indicate that discipline was most important duty.

Curriculum development was #5 on list. A 1992 survey of 164 NYC AP’s (Glanz, 2001)

listed instructional leadership and curriculum development near the bottom of important performed tasks of the AP.

Student Discipline, student activities, and student attendance are still viewed as the three major duties of AP’s (Simpson, 2000)

Methodology

The Principal as a Successful Leader Project (Waxman, MacNeil, and Lee, 2006)

Findings will be used to inform principal preparation programs within the university as well as inform the practice of acting administrators.

Study

Phase 1 – Quantitative survey research

Phase 2 – Longitudinal study of how attitudes and perceptions change over time

Phase 3 – development, implementation, and evaluation of a new principal program based on research from two phases.

Participants

371 Assistant Principals in Gulf Coast Region were interviewed.

Demographic Data

Instrumentation

This dissertation will look at section H, of the survey that was given to Assistant Principals.

Survey Questions

Data Collection

University of Houston graduate students

Face to face interviews 18 months total of collection time

Data Analysis

Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 17) will be used for all data analysis.

Manova for the following Gender Age Range Years in Education Elementary vs. Secondary Accountability

Validity

Number of respondents Central University Number of school districts and

private schools used Interviewers free to choose

respondents Used to test the Principal survey for

construct validity by analyzing the items through the exploratory axis factor analysis and the alpha reliability program with SPSS 17.0

Limitations

To the districts that the students worked in.

Duplicates were eliminated but did prove useful as they allowed for validation of the survey instrument.