Break-Out Session 6.5: The Modern AP: Utilizing your school or district's APs to improve instruction
Presenters: John McDaris, Katelyn Davis
District: Henderson County Public Schools
Assistant principals are poised to critically impact the quality of instruction in their schools. Not only do assistant principals have the opportunity for an immediate impact on instruction and culture in their schools, but they also have strong long-term potential for leadership in these same ways as principals. However, assistant principals are often forgotten players in the instructional and cultural improvement efforts in schools and districts. Our proposal is to provide a framework for school and district leaders that can be used in any context to prepare assistant principals to effectively lead instruction, develop culture, and enhance teacher instructional capacity in their schools. In our session, we will focus on how schools and districts can increase the leadership capacity of their assistant principals in the high-effect instructional influence of collective teacher efficacy and how it is enhanced by student-teacher relationships, clarity, evaluation and reflection, feedback, and classroom discussion. Through each of these domains, assistant principals can contribute to improvements in teachers’ capacity to lead instruction in their classrooms, teacher culture, and classroom culture, which in turn promotes stronger student outcomes.