Assistant principals have to lead both students and teachers and should understand their own strengths and weaknesses. Flourish. facility, do not leave the responsibility and knowledge of your budget to others. When I reached back to D.J. Oftimes, we get the keys and then don’t know the next steps to get things done and be effective. Get to know your support staff. Cultivating Leadership in Assistant Principals Toolkit 2015 Prepared by the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement for the Principal Professional Learning Community, as part of the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), PMP197: 10 Tips for New Assistant Principals, https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/principalmatters/PMP197.mp3, The Assistant Principal 50: Critical Questions for Meaningful Leadership and Professional Growth, Principal Matters (Updated & Expanded): The Motivation, Action, Courage and Teamwork Needed for School Leaders, Good to Great : Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, EntreLeadership: A Step-by-Step Guide for Leading Your Business to Success, PMP198: Panel Discussion on Equity and Racism, Part 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtB3Y3OsB-s, PMP222: A Fighter Pilot’s Lessons for Leaders, PMP221: Designing Leadership Outcomes with Jethro Jones, PMP220: Aspire in Leadership with Joshua Stamper, PMP219: Pause. Read in-depth teaching job application writing tips with examples to gain some modern ideas to enhance your assistant principal application letter. As you enter summer, the ways you “condition” in the weeks ahead may help set the pace for the year ahead. You’ll hear this in just about every advanced education and leadership course you take, I know I did.  All of my St. Rose/CITE professors brought up this topic at some point and they were all correct.  I thought that the friendships and professional relationships I developed were stronger than all of that.  Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have to stop being friendly, but as a leader I’ve learned that professionalism and a laser focus on student achievement is more important than what people may think about you.  The truth is, you’ll lose work friends and the luxury to be off-guard.  As a leader, your teachers are listening to your words and are keenly aware of your actions.Â. Most assistant principals start their careers as teachers. Although I cannot give it away to everyone, I like sharing it with many of the principals I coach. 74% of New Leaders remain as principals in their district for more than three years, compared with just … Although I stumbled at times with this in my first year I did find that two key groups of people are important to maintain stability as you transition into administration.  First, your relationships with your union representative and union leaders are crucial.  It can be a delicate balance, but these relationships must be strengthened.  You won’t get much accomplished as an administrator if your teacher’s union despises you!  Get to know unions! The point is, you’re going to hear a lot of complaints as an administrator, some valid, many not, but you have to validate and listen.  One of the best professional development trainings I’ve gone to in the last year was on Collaborative Problem Solving, or CPS.  One of the keys to CPS is to validate without emotion.  Its something that I’m working on, but an important tool.  As an administrator you’ll want to solve many of the problems people bring to you.  For your sanity, my best advice is to validate those problems and help the person with the problem find ways to solve it, rather than you doing all the work.  As Kim Marshall would say, remove some of the “rocks” from your load! As hard as any new position may be, let me encourage you to make the most of small moments and celebrate wins as they come. Breathe. The New Dorp High School Assistant Principal Deborah Cunningham Morse-Cunningham. Email: learnmore@citeonline.com One year ago I began my internship as the interim assistant principal for Bronxdale High School.  As a lead teacher in the school I thought my transition into a leadership position would come easily.  My principal, although very supportive, warned me that my promotion may not go as smoothly as I expected.  She was right!  Although I felt prepared to take on the next steps in my career due to the College of St. Rose and CITE, I realize now that I have a lot to learn. It’s the start of the new school year in many schools around the world. See more ideas about assistant principal, school leadership, educational leadership. As I reflect back I can categorize my first year mistakes in hopes that someone can learn from them.  Here are some things I learned… the hard way. Here are four ways principals say they plan to lead their school communities and support teachers. Jul 12, 2019 - Explore Robin Jackson's board "Assistant Principal Ideas", followed by 169 people on Pinterest. 6 Challenges  for a New Assistant Principal, by Michael Duggan, Assistant Principal of Bronxdale High School. Some people will never feel comfortable talking with the principal, but they will talk with you. As principals, whether we’re a first year or not, we can forget to take care of ourselves. School leadership is the same. Highlight Your Assistant Principal Skills for a Resume Elementary, middle, and high school principals and assistant principals are set to grow by 8% between 2016 and 2026. 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. I also sent D.J. New Dorp High School “As someone responsible for the tutelage of our youth, this is especially troubling and problematic rhetoric to say the least. As grateful as I was to receive the state award from the National Association of Secondary Principals, I was also aware of something more important: Enjoying your work as an assistant principal only happens when you take time to appreciate others, relish the small moments, and recognize the importance of the journey and people that will shape you along the way. CITE is the Center for Integrated Training and Education. For over 25 years, CITE has and continues to train TEACHERS (Early Childhood, Professional Certification, Special Ed,Grad Courses, Bilingual courses, DASA); COUNSELORS (School, Mental Health Masters, Advanced Certificate); and ADMINISTRATORS (SBL, SDL, Public Admin, Doctorate) in all five boroughs of NYC, Yonkers, Westchester, and Long Island. I unpack them in this podcast episode with follow-up to several questions for D.J. Here are 10 survival tips for school principals, whether you're new to school administration, struggling to keep your head above water, or just want to refresh your best practices. Be a ‘Calm and Motivating Presence’ Kelly Corbett, principal of Otsego Elementary School in Otsego, Minnesota, told Superville that principals and instructional leaders must remain level-headed: “We need to be prepared. See more ideas about assistant principal, school leadership, educational leadership. New Assistant Principal Six weeks into the school year, a new assistant principal was appointed to our school. In larger school districts, there may be multiple assistant principals per school, each specializing in a specific subject area, such as history or math. afterwards, but here’s the short summary: In our conversation, D.J. The final piece of advice I have for those taking the next step in their education career (read: giant leap), is to speak with the loved ones around you and be open and honest about the long hours that you. Teachers can easily feel threatened when an administrator sits behind a computer (supposedly taking notes that pick apart each and every aspect of a lesson), so travel around with as little equipment as possible. Great advice. 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. Veteran Principals Offer Advice to New Colleagues The Education World Principal Files principals have dozens of years of "principal-ing" under their belts. If you are just beginning, hang in there. I would just add that they read their evaluation instruments (theirs and direct reports). Deep Dive What 7 principals wish they knew their first day on the job Several K-12 school leaders shared their thoughts at the NASSP's Ignite '16 conference The first day of any job can be stressful. Thanks again for doing what matters! And based on the feedback I’m hearing, you should also check out his free weekly virtual meetings discussing the book. For more information on this program, please go here. How to do you support the people that you are listening to is another key question. Breathe. The nation's top principals gathered in Washington, D.C. last month, winners of the National Distinguished Principals award. I have started Jen Schwanke’s book “You’re the Principal [Now What? Build trust and confidence within your school community. 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. So here’s my success tips for you as you start out as a new Principal: Your personal values and integrity are paramount.   Developing a professional reputation is incredibly important as a budding administrator. Salaries estimates are based on 544 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Assistant Principal employees in New York City, NY. Be a good listener “Sounding Board” – a “go-between” for the principal. Tell the interviewers about the things you achieved while working at some other school (in terms of tangible results). The applications to school leadership helped me develop my first “KRA’s”, or Key Results Areas, with my teams. As a lead teacher in the school I thought my transition into a leadership position would come easily. with Jen Schwanke. Below are my 10 tips and reminders for Assistant Principals. The April 2009 PRincipal Communicatorissue features two documents created by the Pattonville School District in St. Ann, Mo. Mike graduated from the College of St.Rose/ CITE School Building Leader program. It is crucial to use these as part of the backwards design process to govern the year. Have your administrative assistant regularly check the line items so that you don't grow short in any area. My expectations were that I would be treated by the staff the same, I’d be able to learn quickly, and that I wouldn’t have to change the way I did things much.Â. Doctorate in Educational Leadership with the Sage Colleges (CSA members), Doctorate of Education in Leadership in Innovation and Continuous Improvement with Concordia U. Wisconsin (non-CSA members), Educational Administration with the College of St. Rose, Certificate of Advanced Study in School Counseling, Certificate of Advanced Study in Mental Health Counseling, Master’s in General and Special Ed (Childhood or Early Childhood), College of St.Rose/ CITE School Building Leader program, Open House Master’s in General and Special Ed. And once the race starts, you need a lot of endurance for the road ahead. This includes the student activity accounts as more Principals are fired due to mismanagement of these accounts that any other reason. Maybe you know someone who is taking their first position in school administration as an assistant principal or otherwise. He had just accepted his first position as an Assistant Principal and emailed me the following (that I’m sharing with permission): May 20, 2020: Good evening Mr. Parker, I hope all is well. Mike Duggan is the assistant principal of Bronxdale High School. Although I stumbled at times with this in my first year I did find that two key groups of people are important to maintain stability as you transition into administration. Thank you in advance! They may be assigned a specific grade level or group. A principal and assistant principal share three tenets to develop a joint approach to leadership. The final piece of advice I have for those taking the next step in their education career (read: giant leap), is to speak with the loved ones around you and be open and honest about the long hours that you have to put in, the additional screen time you’ll need at home and the responsibility you’ll feel for running a school.  The transition can absolutely take over your life, so you must find a balance between home and life.  Make sure you’re exercising both your mind and body to stay healthy.  I’m still working on my balance and everything else! These are the keys to building a trusting community.  You’ll find at times, many many times, that teachers are worse than your most annoying students.  Some complain just for the sake of complaining.  And if you’re thinking “not, me, I never complain.”  Yes you do.  You complain a lot!  I didn’t realize how much of a pain I was to my administration until I became an administrator!  I would complain about furniture in the classroom, lack of paper in the copy room, lack of toner in the copy machine, my commute, my long hours and on and on.Â. Assistant principals can work at elementary, middle, or high schools. Learn from times you make mistakes. Third, go to a lot of professional development. Build a solid foundation for a solid working relationship early and most importantly back your teachers unless it is impossible not to. My advice is to be the leader who builds a trusting community.  Not everyone will trust you, but if you build a culture that values the community above all else, you’ll be better off.  Your initial St. Rose/CITE courses are all about developing PLCs for a reason.  Hold onto all of your St. Rose/CITE course work because it is very useful, especially the projects, readings and discussions on PLCs and culture. And keep growing – just like you did before you stepped into this new position.   When you’re preparing for the exam, definitely go to the review classes that St. Rose/CITE organizes.  Try to go to at least three, with different professors.  Each professor has a bag of tricks that will help you, so getting to learn from different ones will help a great deal!Â. Just as teachers should never forget what it's like to be a student, administrators should never forget what it's like to be a teacher. It’s a practical reflection on the meaning behind leadership plus practical how-to lessons. Between instructional leadership, family engagement, and building management, principals are routinely squeezed for time. Flourish. Most new principals simply try to do too much. Info: citepd.com, What question can we answer for you? This book looks at how to organize a team of professionals in reaching shared goals. Explain the lessons you learned at your last place, and how they helped you to become a better assistant principal. 5. It’s important to remember to stop and breathe sometimes. Tips for New Principals How you handle conflict defines your professional brand. There are My advice is to be the leader who builds a trusting community. Communication Tips for Teachers What questions do you still have? Parker, I totally agree with your tips. If you are further down the road in your career, stop and remember why … Let them know you don’t keep secrets from the principal, but that you will bring their issues and/or concerns to the principal in a … That cycle of reflection, growth, and application is what helped you grow to this point, and it will help you grow into any position ahead. To be effective, assistant principals must know and take concrete steps to support their faculty and staff. Sometimes the load becomes more than we can bear. Assistant Principal Aaron Steinly discusses the new initiative, Principals for Change (www.principalsforchange.org), he and his colleagues launched to promote the greening of U.S. schools. Take the time to get to know each of them personally, find out what they expect from you, and let them know your expectations early. Listening is key. Here are 12 HOT TIPS to help you lead successfully in the 21st century. And one more thing: Pass those lessons along to others because we are not alone in this important journey of education. CITE PD offers CTLE-approved in-school professional development tailored to your school’s needs and your vision. Find and commit to sustained professional development in your first year, no matter how busy you are. Reach back in the comments or email me at will@williamdparker.com. Fortunately there are ways principals make the most of their time. ]…,” and it has been great so far. Put on the teacher Third, go to a lot of professional development.  This past year I went to more PDs than in the previous five.  I may be embellishing a bit, but you get the point.  Keep growing in the profession.  Its incredibly important to be knowledgeable on the latest education trends, laws, education politics, etc.Â. 7 Tips For New and Aspiring Building Principals By ASCD Guest Blogger - May 23, 2017 0 12512 Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Congratulations! To be effective, assistant principals must know and take concrete steps to support their faculty and staff. Finally, I shared with D.J. I was wondering if you have any resources or tips for my first year? Mar 17, 2018 - Explore Shirley Ashburn's board "Assistant Principal", followed by 327 people on Pinterest. These are the keys to building a trusting community. EntreLeadership: A Step-by-Step Guide for Leading Your Business to Success by Dave Ramsey is another book I found helpful. This is easy to understand, but I can’t over estimate the importance of data. Although I haven’t read the newest book by Principal Kafele, I’m hearing great things about it. Starting a new school year is like preparing for a marathon.   This will make the transition much smoother if you stay in the same school as well as help you acquire important skills you’ll need later on. One year ago I began my internship as the interim assistant principal for Bronxdale High School. Starting as a new School Principal is both exciting and challenging. Look at this list of leadership styles and decide which best describes you. Spend a great deal of time in classrooms, being as non-evaluative as you can. Know what they are before you start in the position. The union, which represents over 6,400 public school principals, assistant principals and other education administrators, has been without a contract since April of last year. Tips for First Year Principals: Eight Ways to Make Your Mark By Carol D. Birks With Judith Richardson Since becoming the principal of Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, CT in July 2007, I have worked tirelessly to begin a My biggest mistake was starting my role as interim AP “guns ablazin’!”  I was a dedicated teacher and tenacious student advocate, so naturally I thought that was how I would approach leading adults.  I was wrong!  The damage that model caused is still being repaired, even as recently as Friday. This is especially true when you find yourself responsible for an entire building of … Listening is key. Another group are that I found very important and helpful are those teachers that are already in leadership positions. That’s almost 20,000 people vying for your job. You’ll hear this in just about every advanced education and leadership course you take, I know I did. In order to find success in this area one should absolutely start taking on leadership positions within the school before even telling others you’ll be taking courses to become an administrator. This is easy to understand, but I can’t over estimate the importance of data.  You have to know your school and your students.  You’ll be asked about everything from the demographics of your students, to the percentage who qualify for free or reduced lunch, to how many teachers received an “effective” rating in Domain 1e.Â, Study and learn a lot.  First: study for the SBL exams.  They’re not as easy as some would lead you to believe.  They actually make you think as an administrator. What the Assistant Principal Resume Objective Should Tell Prospective Employers Assistant principals handles student discipline, communicating with teachers and coordinating school resources. Personally, I like to record the date whenever I spend more than ten minutes in a classroom, … As I reflect back I can categorize my first year mistakes in hopes that someone can learn from them. mentions when I was named Oklahoma’s Assistant Principal of the year in 2012. Put on the teacher hat while working with and for teachers. The relationships you had with teachers will change. You should talk positively about your previous experience. Another group are that I found very important and helpful are those teachers that are already in leadership positions.  These are generally your department heads or lead teachers.  These are people that you can bounce ideas off of and receive critical feedback.  I personally relied on some in this group a great deal my first year.  Its been my experience that teachers in this group have aspirations for administration also.Â. Telephone: 877-922-2483 Mike Duggan is the assistant principal of Bronxdale High School.  He was an AP Biology and Environmental Science teacher in the NYC DOE for over a decade. ten ideas to keep in mind the first year as an Assistant Principal. Overall, they manage many school functions and … Part 2 with Jen Schwanke, PMP218: Reflections on Pause. Here are four tips from the Principal to share ideas, I asked him if I could record our conversation to share with other potentially new administrators. New Leader Principals are uncommonly dedicated, remaining committed to their roles at rates well above the national average even while working in some of America’s highest-need schools. One year ago I began my internship as the interim assistant principal for Bronxdale High School. Principals' SeminarOnline professional learning and community for new principals.Peace of MindGain the peace of mind that only comes with years of hard-earned experience.ProwessLearn the management systems that make leading the easy part.GrowthOnline courses, community, collaboration, and self-paced professional learning.START TODAY FOR FREEincrease your peace of mind and … I am about to start my first full time administrative role as an assistant principal at a local high school. Second, study your school and know data.  Know your kids.  Every single student will know you as an administrator.  Learn names! Thanks go to Mickey Schoonover, APR, for sharing these sample resources: 1. So provide resources to teachers that will help them meet and exceed expectations. For a new principal, garnering support and getting everyone on board and getting them to be data driven and work toward the betterment of student achievement is a challenge.