Far too little attention has been paid to the role that assistant principals have in the development of high performing schools. Impact provides specific, practical, and replicable leadership strategies for todays assistant principal.Impact describes how to build meaningful principal/assistant principal leadership teams. The opportunities that assistant principals have to be the instructional leader of the school and the voice of the faculty, and the principal; in other words, how to lead from the middle are examined.

Impact is a practitioners guide for the assistant principal striving to be a school leader. Target audiences include teachers wishing to become assistant principals, current assistant principals looking to excel and lead careers of significance, colleges of education working with graduate students who are being trained in P-12 school administration, and sitting school principals looking to expand the often under-utilized, potential of the assistant principal.

This book examines the art and science of the assistant principal as a school leader; as a leader who impacts the lives of teachers and students. Great assistant principals matter.

Chris Colwell is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Stetson University. His 37 year career includes serving as a principal at all levels of P-12 education as well as being recognized as the Florida Secondary School Principal of the Year and as the President of the Florida Organization of Instructional Leaders.

Forewordby Ron Pinnell
Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter 1 Building a Principal-Assistant Principal Partnership Team
School Leadership as a Collective Process
School Leadership as the Development of Personal Qualities
Building the Principal-Assistant Principal Team
Keys to Building a High Performing Principal-Assistant Principal Leadership Team
The Power of WE
The Power of Communication
The Power of Mistakes
Principal-Assistant Principal Relationship Traps
The Loyalty Trap
The Good Cop-Bad Cop Trap
The Principal as Leader-Assistant Principal as Manager Trap
Chapter 2 Managing Change in the Principalship
Principal Expectations
Be a Partner
Be a Teacher
Be a Listener
Be a Learner
Assistant Principal Expectations
Be a Partner
Be a Mentor
Chapter 3 Finding and Keeping Your Unique Leadership Voice
Position Power and Leadership Voice
Advanced Degrees and Lifelong Learning
The Principal and Leadership Voice
Standards of Evidence and Leadership Voice
Keeping Your Leadership Voice
Chapter 4 Expert Power v. Position Power
Position Power and School Safety
Position Power and Routine Management Tasks
The Entitlement Trap
The Assistant Principal and Expert Power
The Assistant Principal and Charismatic Power

Chapter 5 Building Faculty Trust and Commitment
Building Faculty Partnerships
Making Faculty Issues the Principals Solution
Making Faculty Issues Assistant Principals Issues
Making Consistency, Transparency, and Trust the Hallmark of Faculty Interaction
Destroying Faculty Trust
The Inconsistency Trap
The Isolation Trap
The Ignorance Trap
Chapter 6 The Teachers Union: Opportunity or Adversity
Faculty Traps
Trap 1: The Chip on the Shoulder
Trap 2: Whose Side Am I On?
Trap 3: I Think I Know the Contract
Trap 4: Its Just About the Money
Responding to Contract Violation Inquiries
Salary, Working Conditions, and Job Satisfaction
Teaching, Learning, Student Achievement and Job Satisfaction
Union-Administration Action Plan
Chapter 7Leading from the Middle
Leading From the Middle Closer to the Action
Leading From the Middle Delegation as Opportunity
Leading From the Middle the Eyes and Ears of the Principal
Leading from the Middle is Trust in the Middle
Leading from the Middle is Communication, Consistency, and Transparency from the Middle
Communication and Confidentiality
Chapter 8 Leading Up Building Commitment and Support From Your Superiors
Leadership Orientation
Leading Up Strategies That Impact
Lead Up By Modeling
Lead up from the Foundation You are Given
Lead Up Through Teacher Evaluations
Lead Up By Networking
Building Formal Networks
Building Informal Networks
The Assistant Principal Network
The Interdisciplinary Network
Lead Up By Creating a Unique To Do List
Chapter 9 The 50% Rule
Prioritizing Time for Leadership
The Leadership Log
The 50% Rule
Chapter 10Managing Student Conduct v. Leading Students
Move From an Informal Curriculum on Values To a Formal Curriculum Values
Move From Mass Production To Mass Customization
Move From Consistency and Transparency in the Outcome To Consistency and Transparency in the Process
Move From School as a Monarchy Run by Adults To School as a Mini-Democracy Run by All
Move From Teaching Student Compliance as a Way to Stay Out of Trouble To Student Compliance as a Symbol of a Personal Code of Ethics
Chapter 11 Building Family and Community Partnerships
Inviting Engagement v. Building Bridges that Require Engagement
Holding Family and Community Events v. Building Bridges to Family and Community Partnerships
Delegating Community Involvement to Others v. Building a Bridge of Leadership Accountabilit
Its All About Relationships
Building Sustainable Partnerships
Chapter 12 Policies, Procedures, and the Law
The Assistant Principal and Student Rights
Reasonable Suspicion v, Probable Cause
A Question of Balance
Viewpoint Discrimination
The Assistant Principal and Teacher Rights
The Assistant Principal and Teacher Contracts
Chapter 13 The Assistant Principal and School Levels
The Elementary Assistant Principal: Overview
The Elementary Assistant Principal: Challenges and Opportunities
The Middle School Assistant Principal: Overview
The Middle School Assistant Principal: Challenges and Opportunities
The High School Assistant Principal: Overview
The High School Assistant Principal: Challenges and Opportunities
Chapter 14 Pursuing the Principalship
Appendix Professional Organizations
Bibliography