Relationships between and among school administrative team members are critical components of school culture. They serve as a guidepost for the behaviors and attitudes of staff and students. To invigorate these relationships, three embodied practices have high yield not only for the relationships among administrators, but also for fostering a…

This case explores the challenges faced by educational leaders at Maple Middle School, a rural school in a diverse community, involving a physical altercation between two students, subsequent student protests, and an investigation by Child Protective Services. Amid growing community unrest, a divided school board must address student discipline…

Many professions have long runways to leadership, with mentorship and increasing levels of responsibility. In contrast, the path to school leadership has historically not been well-defined. But that is changing. The role of assistant principals has become a major stepping stone to the principalship. Once thought of primarily as disciplinarians,…

Racism, social media, and free speech collide on a high school campus when a student creates an offensive poster that a classmate posts on social media. This case describes a school administrator's conversations and actions with students, teachers, and the community addressing bigotry, race, and free speech on campus. The scenario is presented…

School leaders, specifically principals, play a pivotal role in shaping student learning outcomes. The benefits of strong leaders extend beyond academic achievement, such as reductions in absenteeism and exclusionary discipline. While quality principals are critical for creating and sustaining quality schools, the staffing pipeline is facing…

This report introduces the topic of assessment centers, an increasingly common personnel selection and development tool. A description of assessment center usefulness and their role in the selection of Austin Independent School District assistant principals and principals is also provided.

This article summarizes lessons and examples from a learning community of leaders from 78 large and medium school districts across the U.S. that has been meeting monthly throughout the pandemic, that other educators might apply to their work as they continue to navigate difficult and ambiguous times. The learning community members have identified…

Many instructional leaders--superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum coordinators, principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches--forget how hard it is to teach. The real-life experience of teaching, with its day-to-day intensity, fades a little bit each month one is not in the classroom. There is, however, a way that…

We share school leaders' perspectives on Zoom videos concerning the needs of immigrant and refugee families in Title I schools. In these videos, participants crafted and shared personal narratives about their leadership experiences during the COVID-19 era of education. Rooted in participatory design research methods, the process of designing these…

The purpose of this article is to examine a 'grow your own' model of leadership preparation and placement of educational administrators in the state of Tennessee. The growing need for school and district administrators in the rural counties of Tennessee mirrors a nationwide issue, and state policymakers and practitioners must respond appropriately…

The Listening Guide method was founded in opposition to other forms of interview coding which either put data into predetermined and/or binary categories. Feminist psychologists believed that other methods of qualitative research disappeared the undertheorized portions of subjects' narratives. This method does not seek to only hear voices of queer…

Shannon Kersey, principal of Alpharetta High School in Georgia and one of the authors of this article, believes in the benefits of building assistant principals' leadership capacity, not just for success in their current jobs but to support their eventual transition to principal. Three of her former assistant principals are now principals of…

The transition for new head teachers (school principals) can be a difficult and unpredictable one. This article outlines a case of a deputy (assistant principal) in the United Kingdom as he takes up his first headship. We describe some of the challenges involved and prompt readers to consider strategies that could be used and support that may be…

The phase of entering the role of assistant principals and the coping strategies assistant principals use upon entering their role have barely been studied. Most studies that dealt with assistant principals focused mainly on the role of the assistant principals and their readiness to advance to the position of school principal, while the study…

Education decision makers in Colorado, Missouri, and South Dakota share concerns about and need more information on changes in school and district leadership (principals, assistant principals, superintendents, and assistant superintendents), including mobility (when leaders move to a different school or district within the state public school…