In "Navigating the Principalship," James P. Spillane and Rebecca Lowenhaupt look at the major challenges of the principal position, examining how new principals adapt to the role, set an instructional agenda, and build cooperation and collaboration. They focus in particular on the dilemmas that mark the principalship--the inevitable,…

This book is designed to provide beginning administrators with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed during their first year, shortening the initial learning curve and helping them make smooth transitions from teaching to their first administrative positions. Too often, beginning administrators undermine their success by making critical…

A principal's job is astonishingly complex, and its competing demands can be overwhelming, especially in the first few years. In this book, Jen Schwanke, a principal herself, provides a mentor's guidance to steer new principals through the period of adjustment and set the foundation for a long and rewarding career. The topics you wish your…

Many new principals seek a professional guide that is simple, current, to-the-point, and enjoyable to read. This book can be used by beginning principals as a personal reference for the demands of the stressful and important job. The guidelines presented in this book are grade-level neutral-intended for the principal of K-12 public, charter, or…

This book displays tools and templates for planning, organizing, and monitoring a beginning principal's daily tasks. The templates can also be downloaded from Eye On Education's website and they include: (1) planning calendar; (2) homework policy; (3) letter to community partners; (4) letter of introduction to your staff; and (5) staff meeting…

This book describes a professional development model for new and experienced principals -- a collaborative leadership inquiry seminar. The authors combine existing models of structured professional conversations about education into an on-going leadership development experience that will work in large, urban school districts. They examine how to…

The paper is intended to disseminate information and to seek participant suggestions concerning the most recent phase of an ongoing program of state policy research focused on the professional development and state licensure of early career principals. The program, known as the Ohio Principals' Leadership Academy: Entry Year Program (OPLA:EYP), is…

The best leaders use multiple frames or lenses to view common challenges and to solve their most difficult problems. This book contains a series of dialogs between a novice and a master teacher, and between a new and a seasoned principal as they demonstrate how framing and reframing challenges can bring clarity, help to anticipate problems, and…

This text offers guidelines, checklists, advice from other principals, and reflections intended to make a principal's day on the job run more smoothly. Several themes are stressed throughout the book: school administration as a human-relations enterprise; increasing awareness of the principal's socialization process; the leader as a lifelong…

Suggestions on how to navigate the difficult transition from teacher to administrator are presented in this book. Chapter 1 discusses the stages of change that translate into the stages of grief and loss and the sense of unpreparedness new administrators face. New communication patterns are explored in chapter 2, followed by a discussion of time…

This book provides an overview of the internship as a central ingredient of effective preservice programs. Intended for those who are involved in the preparation of school administrators, the text emphasizes that preservice programs must ensure that interns will learn the skills that will make them effective leaders. The book is designed to…

The role of assistant principal is one of the least researched and discussed topics in professional journals and books on educational leadership. The ambiguity of the role allows for the ineffective use of this position and makes it a particularly difficult role to fulfill. This book can be used as a guide for practicing assistant principals and…

This book displays tools and templates for planning, organizing, and monitoring a beginning principal's daily tasks. The templates can also be downloaded from Eye on Education's website and they include a planning calendar, homework policy, letter to community partners, letter of introduction to your staff, and staff meeting agenda. Chapter 1…

This report presents the results of a 7-month study and conversation among field-based educators who attempted to respond to the challenges and responsibilities facing beginning principals. Documented is the role of the principal in affecting the success of school buildings. Apparent in this body of research is the need for the principal to be…

Although leadership should not be thought of as manifest only in the acts of a single person, the school principal is the person who arranges the organizational conditions. To help future and present school principals, issues behind leadership and the management aspects of the principalship are presented. The book combines theory and practice,…