“Our Role Is Critical”: How to Best Support Assistant Principals

According to a report from the Wallace Foundation, the number of assistant principals (APs) in United States schools has been steadily increasing. In addition, the number of principals who spent time in an assistant principal role prior to their current role has also increased significantly. The report estimates that over the last 25 years, the number of APs has grown from 43,960 to 80,590—a group that’s growing nearly six times faster than the number of principals.

With this data comes a natural question: Given this increase, how is the education field thinking about the importance and growth of the assistant principalship, and how can we prepare these roles for success—both now and as they potentially ascend to the principal position in the future?

Unfortunately, those answers are a bit unclear. The same research that highlights the increased numbers around assistant principals in schools also notes that the knowledge base around the assistant principalship hasn’t grown in parallel. There isn’t a solid consensus on what an assistant principal role should entail, what kind of support they need in their current roles, and the professional development that’s needed to help them continue their careers. 

The same research that highlights the increased numbers around assistant principals in schools also notes that the knowledge base around the assistant principalship hasn’t grown in parallel.

So, we decided to dig in. To coincide with National Assistant Principal Week, we’re taking a deep dive into the assistant principalship—what makes the role unique, the deep value and expertise this role brings to our schools, and ways to shift our thinking around this pivotal role.

The assistant principalship: a critical role for schools and principals

New Leaders alum Afua Agyeman-Badu, an assistant principal at Chicago’s Ira F. Aldridge Elementary School, doesn’t mince words about how important her role is. “Our role is critical,” she says. “It would be hard for a principal to lead without us.”

Agyeman-Badu’s words ring especially true when you consider the incredible breadth of responsibility assistant principals have in their schools. Most assistant principals take on a mix of roles—co-instructional leader alongside principals, manager of school schedules and activities, and dean of student discipline, to name a few. As one assistant principal says, “I don’t just wear one hat—I wear seven…that’s one of the things I love about my job—I don’t know what I’m going to expect every day.” 

Part of what makes the AP role especially important are the bridges APs able to build between school leadership and the groups within a school community. With the help of distributed leadership, assistant principals have the opportunity to work more closely with students, teachers, and families than principals might, playing a more direct role in improving student academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes. 

Part of what makes the AP role especially important are the bridges APs able to build between school leadership and the groups within a school community. 

As one assistant principal says, “You have to care for the folks you are serving. Noticing those who are working in your building, in your classrooms, is paramount. It truly takes a village…reach out, network, connect, and help the community.”

And, they’re roles that are so needed, especially as schools and districts around the country work to strengthen their principal pipelines. Strong assistant principals are not only natural fits for principal roles, they also have the ability to create an even deeper impact within a school. An AP who is moving into the principal role already has the shared vision and language of their school embedded into their day-to-day work—making the transition more seamless than a new hire. 

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What can principals and superintendents do to better utilize and support assistant principals?

Even though the assistant principal role is a critical one, author and former principal Baruti Kafele says that an AP is often the most “misused and underutilized” role in our schools and districts. If you’re a school or district leader who’s looking to fix that, here are a few strategies to consider: 

Shift to thinking of assistant principals as “principals in training” or “co-pilots”

It might be surprising to learn that while the number of assistant principals has increased, many of them never move into a principal position. Many APs report they aren’t getting the leadership experience or exposure to administrative or instructional work that’s necessary for the role.

Many APs report they aren’t getting the leadership experience or exposure to administrative or instructional work that’s necessary for the role.

For example, Kafele often sees that assistant principals get pigeonholed into disciplinarian roles because of their strong relationships with students—a choice that he says has negative effects on both students and teachers. “Those teachers, and thereby those children, are being shortchanged because this person is typically reduced to a full-time disciplinarian but doesn’t have the opportunity to be in the classroom or to coach a teacher to become phenomenal,” he says. Kafele also goes on to say that this type of pigeonholing is a particularly persistent problem for educators of color. 

There’s also another issue at play—one of standards. Most states and districts don’t have distinct professional standards that discern assistant principal roles from principal roles. This lack of definition makes it tougher for assistant principals to move into the principalship.

A lack of standards doesn’t mean you as a principal or district leader can’t work alongside your APs to develop your own definition for the role—one that begins with looking at APs as partners in leadership rather than someone who’s simply assisting or supporting. And one of the best ways to embrace this co-pilot/principal-in-training view is to practice your own distributed leadership skills. Consider all of the ways an AP can get a well-rounded leadership experience: leading teacher teams or data meetings, coaching teachers, spearheading initiatives like equity work or family and community engagement, or taking a lead role in your school’s or district’s strategic planning efforts. 

Provide coaching to grow APs as instructional leaders

Principals are the instructional leaders of their schools—but it’s not a role they have to take on alone. In fact, New Leaders alum Katie Carmany says that assistant principals are uniquely positioned to advance student success because they interact directly with teachers, engage with students, and support parents. It’s why she provides leadership development to 180 vice (assistant) principals as part of her role within the Fresno Unified School District in northern California. 

A big part of Carmany’s leadership development is coaching APs to coach their teachers, especially in terms of instructional leadership. Not only does coaching surface and help to unpack instructional challenges among teachers, it can also help assistant principals identify how to meet the real need that underlies the situation. It also offers the opportunity for built-in skill acquisition and professional growth—as APs work through these challenges, they may need to learn a particular ability, cultural competency, or management strategy.  

Not only does coaching surface and help to unpack instructional challenges among teachers, it can also help assistant principals identify how to meet the real need that underlies the situation.

Coaching also helps assistant principals level the playing field between themselves and teachers. “It’s less about a leader having power over a teacher and more about a leader having power with a teacher to revisit what they already know and advocate for their needs,” Carmany says. 

Focus on building effective communication 

It sounds simple, but one of the most impactful ways to set an assistant principal up for success is to prioritize alignment and two-way communication between you and your AP. 

This principal’s example really drives this point home. When she assumed the role of a principal at a new school, her hire coincided with the hiring of an assistant principal. Together, their primary task was to quickly acquaint themselves with one another and develop a shared vision for the school as they began to plan for the upcoming year. 

To accelerate that growth and collective development, the pair worked with a leadership coach to both identify their individual strengths and best collaborate not only for their first year together, but for the years ahead. “This intentional early communication laid the groundwork for our effective teamwork in supporting our school community,” she says. 

By going all-in on establishing clear communication, defining roles and responsibilities, building mutual trust and respect, sharing information and resources, and collaborating on decision-making, you’ll create the foundation for a great working relationship—one that can have a positive impact on your school community as a whole. 

Celebrating assistant principals means utilizing their expertise

As we celebrate our assistant principals this week and throughout the month, let’s focus on the best way that we can honor and support them—by giving them exposure to the operations, coaching, and true leadership duties of the principalship.

After all, making sure we prepare our assistant principals isn’t just about the present—it’s about ensuring that we have the most effective leaders possible for our future.

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