This dissertation advocates for improved succession planning in educational leadership, particularly in the public sector, where it often receives insufficient attention. It proposes a robust leadership pipeline program within school districts to enhance the capacity of aspiring assistant principals by providing hands-on experiences, mentorship…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore assistant principals' leadership readiness levels and the relationship between a district-provided administrator development program (ADP) and those levels. The study took place in Lovely Independent School District, which is in southeast Texas. Research questions focused on perceptions of…

This study explored the motivators and inhibitors experienced by women pursuing high school administration positions. Additionally, it sought to identify the reasons behind the gender discrepancies to support improved hiring practices and job requirements and inform districts and states about areas for improvement to attract and retain qualified…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study is to explore how assistant principals describe their choices regarding survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun regarding whether to seek promotion to principal in southern Arizona. A principal shortage exists in the United States in part because assistant principals qualified to be…

This in-depth study looks at how leadership helped and what problems there were when non-profit private schools in Eastern South Florida tried to use the Leader In Me (LIM) program. It looks into how school leaders help teachers and staff adopt LIM, deal with resistance, and make sure the program works. Five principals or assistant principals said…

The purpose of this mixed methods collective case study was to explore the utilization of assistant principals as instructional leaders to identify and explain factors that influence instructional leadership effectiveness of assistant principals, and the potential effect on school performance in northeastern Pennsylvania secondary schools. The…

In this mixed-methods multi-case study, the researcher's aim was to examine the confidence and competence of new assistant principals in public school districts in California. The scope of participants included superintendents, principals, and teacher leaders. A review of the literature revealed that although the role of the new assistant…

School leaders face a time conflict with the enormity of responsibilities in their trust. Principals and assistant principals grapple with the conflict between the instructional leadership and the organizational management requirements of operating a school. Examination of literature regarding school leaders and their instructional and…

The purpose of this dissertation-in-practice was to explore the dimensions of support for assistant principals in one southeast Texas mid-sized suburban public school district in conjunction with improving the overall efficacy of campus leaders while also bolstering the organizational leadership pipeline. Sixteen current or former assistant…

Assistant principals are essential to the campus leadership team as instructional leaders. However, many assistant principals spend most of their day participating in noninstructional leadership duties and responsibilities. This can drastically reduce the assistant principal's ability to fulfill instructional leadership duties, thus negatively…

I designed this study to explore elementary assistant principals' perspectives of their roles as instructional leaders while fulfilling other administrative duties typically associated with the assistant principal position. I aimed to build on existing research on the role of contemporary elementary assistant principals as instructional leaders.…

The assistant principal position is a middle management position that can be challenging and lead to burnout, attrition, and turnover. There is little research on the characteristics of the assistant principal position, the impact of policy, and the role that positive psychological resources play in explaining well-being. With a sample of 184…

It is estimated that K-12 public school districts spend approximately nine percent of their annual operating budgets on professional development to enhance the practice of teachers, yet research has found that this significant resource for training does not always yield sustained changes in instructional practices. This phenomenological…

Assistant principals typically begin their careers as teachers and transition to the role of assistant principal after completing a certification program that characteristically focuses on the principalship. Once they move into the role of assistant principal, many feel unprepared as the job responsibilities, assigned by the principal, usually…

The purpose of this study was to examine variation in assistant principal (AP) social justice beliefs and high-stakes accountability perceptions and explore how APs balance accountability policies while addressing social justice issues in their schools. 79 assistant principals participated in a phase 1 survey with 10 APs selected to participate in…