Transforming assistant principals into instructional leaders: obstacles and solutions

Education

Need for Study

Roles and Responsibilities of Assistant Principals

Historical Perspective of Assistant Principal Roles

Prior and Current Research Studies of Assistant Principal Roles

Assistant Principals and Use of Instructional Leadership

Transforming Assistant Principals into Instructional Leaders: Key Obstacles

General consensus indicates that the role of the assistant principals should move beyond its traditional clerical and disciplinary heritage to evolve to instructional leaders that deal with curriculum development, teacher and instructional effectiveness, clinical supervision, staff development and teacher evaluation. Yet, historical and current research shows that there has been little change in the assistant principal occupation since its origin in 1920. This paper uncovers research that tries to reconcile why the role change that practically everyone seems to want to happen hasn't been that quick to occur. As these reasons are better identified and understood, perhaps the twenty first century will see a positive transformation in the role of the assistant principal.

1.1 Need for Study

More research is needed to understand inhibitors of instructional leadership so that schools can begin to focus their efforts on making the changes that will expedite the transition of an assistant principal from a clerk and a disciplinarian to an instructional leader. Additionally, it's important to be aware of solutions that can address shortcomings. Currently, there's research on what assistant principals roles are and what they would like it to be, but little concrete research information exists to understand what solutions might actually work to facilitate role change.

1.2 Study Purpose

The purpose of this study on the assistant principal and his roles and responsibilities is four fold:

To identify what the appropriate role of an assistant principal should be and why,

To discover as many reasons as possible that assistant principals are performing their responsibilities differently from how they should be conducting their job,

To gain an historical perspective of the assistant principal's role, and To develop possible solutions that will facilitate the transition of an assistant principal to meet the needs of larger, modern day schools.

The ultimate objective is to provide research that will help accelerate the appropriate role transformation for the assistant principal.

1.3 Problem Statement

Increasingly, instructional leadership by assistant principals is seen as necessary to achieve school reform, improve the job satisfaction of assistance principals, and to equip them with the skills necessary to advance to the principal level. Schools are too large and complex for the principal to lead by him or herself, assistant principals are not happy with their clerical and disciplinary tasks, and assistant principals do not obtain training in the different skills of a principal before they are promoted to that role. Yet the most probable remedy, instructional leadership, seems to elude assistant principals.

1.4 Hypothesis

Theories as diverse as training and selection issues, the nature of hierarchical organizations, motives of principals, real-world resource constraints, reactive rather than proactive school systems, insufficient reward systems and deficiencies in instructional leadership at the principal level all offer some hints as to the underlying causes preventing instructional leadership from becoming a common part of the assistant principal's job. This discussion also develops possibilities for improving the ability of an assistant principal to become an instructional leader such as formal instructional leadership course training, new selection processes, organizational behavior training, promotion criteria, resource escalation, government and political group intervention, refurbished reward systems, and focus on the leadership skills of principals. This paper does not attempt to rank the issues or the solutions in terms of relative importance.

2.0 Literature Review

This review of the literature provides an overall understanding of, and rationale for, the role of the assistant principal as an instructional leader. In addition it explores the responsibilities of the associate principal for the past century. Evidence is presented to support the claim that the job has really changed since its inception, with the majority of associate principals still serving as clerks and disciplinarians. Next, possible causes for the slow transition of the assistant principal to an instructional leader are presented with the hope of providing guidance that will accelerate role transformation.

Solutions are presented that are worthy of further exploration to determine if they can be useful in transforming the role of the assistant principal.

2.2 Historical Perspective of Assistant Principal Roles

In order to understand how the role of the assistant principal has evolved, it's useful to first understand the development of superintendents and principals. In the nineteenth century, superintendents controlled city schools for the most part. Principals at this time were head teachers with very little authority in running schools. As urbanization developed and school systems became larger, around 1900, superintendents began to delegate school management to principals so that they could occupy administrative and supervisory positions that had become necessary

In 1920, the principal relinquished teaching duties and primary responsibilities shifted to assisting less experienced teachers.

Between 1920 and 1930, the assistant principal roles emerged although this position was then referred to as general supervisors. Their job was to take over the principal's day-to-day classroom supervision and to assist with administrative and logistical operations of the school. Common duties included student discipline, preparation of attendance reports, data collection for evaluation purposes, and coordination of special school programs. Assistant principals had very little formal authority. The principal's role shifted from classroom supervision to the task to running the school. While educational reform that surfaced at the end of the 1990s has called on the instructional leadership skills of the principal to affect change, the assistant principal has often been overlooked as being part of the solution.

2.3 Prior and Current Research Studies of Assistant Principal Roles

Research shows that the duties of assistant principals are still strongly linked to practices established eighty years ago. In 1992, Glanz produced a survey of 200 New York City assistant principals that was approved by the Board of Education's Conflict of Interest Committee. The results showed that assistant principals were far more involved in disciplinary and administrative functions than in instructional and curricular functions as show in the rankings below.

Actual Duties of Assistant Principals: Rankings and Percentages

Duties Rank Percentages Student Discipline 1-94 Lunch Duty 2-92 Scheduling Substitute Teachers 3-91 Ordering Textbooks 4-93 Parental Conferences 4-91 Assemblies 6-91 Administrative Duties 7-91 Articulation 8-90 Evaluation of Teachers 9-83 Student Attendance 10-71 Emergency Arrangements 11-63 Instructional Media Services 12-54 Counseling Pupils 13-46 School Clubs 14-41 Assisting PTA 15-35 Formulating Goals 16-32 Staff Development 17-27 Faculty Meetings 18-24 Teacher Training 19-24 Instructional Leadership 20-23 Public Relations 21 9 Curriculum Development 22 7 Innovations and Research 23 5 School Budgeting 24 3 Teacher Selection 25 1

One year later, a review by Scoggins and Bishop further validated Glanz's findings. The top ten duties and responsibilities of the assistant principal that they identified were: discipline, attendance, student activities, community agencies, master schedules, teacher substitutes, building operations, budget and communications, respectively ranked. Duties associated with instructional learning did not make the list of the seventeen job functions that the authors included in the study.

And, studies show that assistant principals are dissatisfied with their jobs as a direct result of their lack of meaningful responsibilities. A 1987 study of 2,300 secondary school administrators in the U.S. Office of Education illustrated their discontent. The study confirmed the discipline and clerical duties of assistant principals and discovered that they felt powerless and suffered a significantly higher degree of alienation than do principals.

Scoggin's and Bishop's review of the roles and responsibilities of the assistant principals found that they wanted to be included in the instructional operations and to have more respectable responsibilities. In 1992, Marshall studied fifty principals and found that they valued helping students, problem solving, helping teachers and that they appreciated consistent policies, noninterference, support, and good salaries. Scoggins and Bishop also surmised that assistant principals are dissatisfied because they are under too much stress to meet the demands of their more than 20 identified job duties.

More recent studies by Thompson and Louise show that not much has changed as of late, at least not in Mississippi. They gathered data from 369 secondary principals and assistant principals in this state in 1997. In doing so, they discovered that the assistant principal is even at this point in time not a "viable partner in the administrative team." Instead, they are still performing the same old clerical, disciplinary and custodial duties. Interestingly, both principals and assistant principals ranked professional, personal, and psychosocial characteristics common to instructional leaders as the most important for effective assistant principal performance. These included judgment, ethical behavior, leadership skills, dependability, commitment, credibility, loyalty, conflict-resolution skills, and active listening skills

2.4 Assistant Principals and Use of Instructional Leadership

The consensus in the literature shows that assistant principals spend most of their time dealing with clerical and disciplinary issues. However, many advocate an instructional leadership role for the assistant principal that is frequently the sole domain of the principal. Hanny's view of instructional leadership encompasses curriculum development, teacher and instructional effectiveness, clinical supervision, staff development and teacher evaluation. Hallinger describes leadership teams at the secondary level to help carry out the critical functions of curriculum and instructional coordination and supervision.

Hallinger's sentiments on instructional leadership are echoed by Kingery who believes that the nature of public schools has become too complex today to expect one person to single-handedly reform the system. As a result, she contends that there is not enough time and energy devoted to studying research, devising staff-development projects, reviewing student and school achievement data, and designing and coordinating new programs and projects to bolster achievement levels. These are important areas that are relegated to the principal, but that are commonly underemphasized.

There are several theories to explain why it is difficult to achieve instructional leadership at the assistant principal level. Marshall identifies issues related to training and selection systems. She believes that most formal course work does not transform people into good educational leaders because it does not include leadership and instructional learning studies. Often, schools glean their assistant principals from the ranks of teachers, department heads, or counselors. She asserts that those selected for promotion are the candidates who conform to work requirements and promote tradition. More innovative educational leaders are either rejected in the evaluation process or they avoid seeking the role because they don't like the way it has been defined.

Hartzell blames hierarchical positions as the underlying cause of lack of instructional leadership by assistant principals. He theorizes that the differences in the duties of the principal and the assistant principal mirror their positions in the school hierarchy. He contends that lower-levels in a hierarchy naturally have timelines that are shorter and are more internally focused and that lower-level employees must carry out the visions of their superiors. Hartzell believes that roadblocks to achieving instructional leadership at the assistant principal level are further compounded by the fact that almost half of all assistant principals do not provide any input into defining what their roles should be.

As a solution to the hierarchical dilemma, Hartzell suggests that assistant principals must become adapt at influencing those above them to structure the context of their work in ways that promote closer alignment of their goals. But, Hartzell asserts that many assistant principals don't have the skills required to enhance their position, build power bases, establish the right connections, and to maintain a positive relationship with the principal. This theory suggests that assistance principals need more training on organizational structures and behavior and how to influence the system.

Not specific to principals, but common to management personalities in general, is a strong need to achieve that is characterized by traits that can prevent effective leadership. Greene, Adam, and Ebert describe these managerial qualities as a strong need to compete with others, the desire to exert a large degree of influence over others, the preference for individual tasks over group activities and the inclination to evaluate co-workers on the basis of competence rather than team compatibility

These authors go on to state that managers who combine the need for achievement with the need for affiliation, the wish to achieve a good working relationship with others, will be able to accomplish more productive organizational behavior than managers who fall to heavily on the need for achievement. This would indicate that in the selection of a principal more attention is needed to choose individuals with motives that strike a balance between the need for achievement and the need for affiliation.

Glanz blames real-world resource constraints, namely enough time, for the lack of instructional leadership at the associate principal level. He believes that the assistant principal doesn't have time to allocate to instructional leadership activities and that the principal is reluctant to alter the role of the assistant principal because there is no one else to perform the disciplinary and clerical functions. Glanz jokes, "If the assistant principal doesn't prowl the hallways looking for rule-breakers, who will?" His answer is to seek other staff members to fulfill these traditional roles. He proposes the creation of a new position to handle discipline and the use of teachers to take on some of the work such as lunch supervision.

Kingery looks to the government for change, believing the schools are motivated to change only when the criticism becomes so intense that they are forced to act. When change does occur, she believes it usually is the result of new state laws or complaints from politically powerful groups. Like Glanz, she advocates the creation of new job functions to reduce the work burden of the assistant principal, but adds that state legislatures and public interest groups will have to intervene to make this a reality. She does note that this may be slow in happening because the public's perception of the assistant principal is one of the traditional clerk and disciplinarian. Thus, there's a huge need to educate the public to motivate their advocacy for change. According to Greenfield, this will involve a lot of work. He concludes that there is little understanding of the social character of the school setting, the internal and external careers of administrators, and problems associated with training and developing professional administrators.

Still, others think that assistant principal's lack of satisfaction and rewards for their jobs lead to a lack of interest in pursuing instructional learning. Calabrese states that a high percentage of these employees are alienated from their jobs and are concerned that they are no longer ensured an eventual promotion to principal. Marshall has discovered that many factors outside of the assistant principal's control influence their career mobility such as school and district norms and ability to take risks, and career timing. Theories of performance such as Expectancy Theory state that performance is directly related to an employee's belief that their efforts will allow them achieve performance goals and the value individual's place on rewards. Thus, one possible resolution to facilitate instructional learning may be to review and overhaul the compensation package and promotional process for assistants.

Chell questions whether principals themselves have really made the transition to instructional learning, feeling that many focus more on their role as "facility managers." She asserts that "the problem will be solved when principals change - when they heartily endorse their role as instructional leader and develop a set of skills that permit them to function effectively in that role." Fullan is even stronger on this subject, stating that effective instructional principals are distinctly in the minority. If it's true that even now the principal hasn't been brought up to speed with instructional learning, it's difficult to imagine how principals can facilitate instructional leadership for their subordinates as either promoters of the concept or as mentors for assistant principals to learn from. This implies that renewed vigor needs to take place at the principal level before assistant principals can be assimilated into the mix.

3.0 Conclusion

There's certainly no shortage of reasons offered to explain why the role of assistant principal hasn't adopted to demands of larger, modern day schools. Table 2 summarizes some of these reasons and includes suggestions for change in hopes that the assistant principal can take on a more meaningful role in the twenty first century. These possible causes and solutions are not listed in any particular order.

Causes of Lack of Instructional Leadership at the Assistant Principal Level and Possible Resolutions

Cause Agent Possible Resolution Training and Selection Issues More Formal Course Training in Instructional Leadership

Alter the Evaluation System for Selecting Assistant Principals The Nature of Hierarchical Organizations Give assistant principals more training on organizational structures and behavior and how to influence the system. Motives of Principals Promote individuals to principal level that strike a balance between needs for achievement and affiliation. Real-world Resource Constraints Hire new and take advantage of existing staff such as teachers to take on the clerical and disciplinary burdens of assistant principals. Reactive School Systems Sociological Research

Public Education

Government and Political Group Intervention. Insufficient Reward Systems Overhaul the compensation package and promotional process for assistants to ensure that assistant principals are fairly evaluated and rewarded Principal's Lacking of Instructional Leadership Continued emphasis on enhancing the instructional leadership skills of principals so that they will facilitate change

Unfortunately, it's difficult to asses which of the above factors and solutions carry the most weight and under what circumstances they do so. Here, more research is needed to obtain feedback from principals and assistant principals on their perceived barriers to achieving instructional leadership for assistant principals. Their hands-on experience puts them in the best position to grasp resistance of and motivators for change.

To date, most research has focused on what roles of assistant principals are and what they would like to be vs. what solutions would impact the ability of these professionals to serve as instructional leaders.