NASSP Bulletin

If the assistant principalship position is to improve, it will require enlightened and dedicated leadership by principals, says this writer, who urges them to work to improve AP job satisfaction.

While the assistant principalship may be the most dynamic, changing position in education today, it all too often is the most overlooked in terms of significance and prestige. That's the opinion of these writers, who look at what the position has been and what it could become.

How do assistant principals view their job? How do principals and other administrators view it? While the survey discussed on these pages is based on answers supplied by administrators in Washington State, the responses could apply elsewhere as well.

Do assistant principals feel the job provides adequate training for the principalship? In an effort to answer that question, this writer conducted interviews with the assistant principals in one Canadian city. Their responses are presented on the fol lowing pages.

How can the newly-appointed assistant principal be sure when he or she has truly settled into the job? This light-heart ed checklist just might provide an answer.

In an effort to define specifically the competencies required for the assistant principalship, these writers surveyed assistant principals in a six-state area. Their findings resulted in the comprehensive listing of real and ideal competencies printed here.

The place of assistant principals in their career paths or in the school's social system has been ignored, for the most part. An assistant principals' academy can fill this gap by providing formal training and on-the-job socialization.

The challenges of helping today's at-risk students seem over whelming but they can be met, says this writer. He describes how one middle school has developed a broad-based, compre hensive program to meet the needs of such students.

Principals acknowledge their role as instructional leaders but some claim they haven't been too successful in fulfilling it. To learn their reasons, the writer surveyed principals in Ohio. The two reasons that surfaced in the study are described here.

Although in-school suspension is the preferred alternative to out of school suspension, in itself it is not enough to modify the behavior of at-risk students. Counseling is a much-needed factor in the program.

Typically, literature about study skills and test-taking tech niques focuses on particular skills and available resources. The authors propose a more detailed model that involves the curricular, instructional/guidance, and assessment dimensions of promoting study skills and test-taking techniques among secondary school principals.

Administrators interested in exploring the options available to schools organizing for a curriculum in thinking skills will find a discussion in this article of the pros and cons of each option. The writer's aim is to describe, in short, the ingredients of such a curriculum.

Can a principal's performance be predicted? In addition to such methods as the NASSP Assessment Center, school dis tricts may also consider developing their own instruments to evaluate principals.

A survey of curricular history reveals alternate preoccupation with academic and student-centered educational goals. Student-centered and academic goals are insufficient indepen dently and an integration of the two would strengthen and affirm each, says this author, who uses the ideas of John Dewey to provide a methodology and rationale for the inte gration of the two areas.

What is your leadership style? Do you recognize the skills that enable you to identify with that style? Here's an article that describes the strengths and weaknesses of the several dif ferent styles as well as provides suggestions about how lead ership style affects organizational climate.