Explore the wide range of duties inherent in being an assistant principal and gain strategies to achieve success and happiness in this position, whether for a single year or for a career. Written with compassion and accountability and informed by research, this is your complete guide for stepping into your critical role as an opportunity maker striving to foster student success. Ambitious K–12 assistant principals will: Delve into the role of an assistant principal and the wide variety of duties and responsibilities it encompasses Learn how to develop positive, equitable environments for student learning and educator achievement Develop an understanding of the importance of managerial strategies and compassionate leadership Benefit from the variety of reproducible professional development activities Encourage learning and growth through strong leadership Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Deciding You Want to Be an Assistant Principal Chapter 2: Making Time for Management Chapter 3: Fostering a Positive School Culture and Climate Chapter 4: Developing Relationships Chapter 5: Protecting and Promoting Priorities and People Chapter 6: Leveraging Firm and Fair Discipline Chapter 7: Capitalizing on Teachable Moments Chapter 8: Safeguarding an Equitable Education for All Chapter 9: Taking Time for Teaching and Learning Chapter 10: Supporting School Improvement and Accountability Conclusion: All Other Duties as Assigned Appendix: Quick Reference—Strategies References and Resources Index

The position of presidential assistant is relatively new in the world of higher education and can still be a very hard-to-define occupation. In Other Duties as Assigned, veteran presidential assistants from all types of institutions describe the varied duties and responsibilities that they hold. The chapters span analyses of career paths, of gender, and of personal characteristics, as well as practical issues such as writing speeches, handling complaints, serving as the board secretary, and raising funds. The contributors have based their writing both on their experiences and on data from a national survey of the profession. This book is a seminal body of work that gives a comprehensive understanding of the many dimensions of presidential assistants, as well as providing practical advice about several key features of the role. As such, Other Duties as Assigned serves as a reference to existing presidential assistants as well as a guide to presidents contemplating the creation of such a position.

There's a lot more to being a teacher leader than any job description can capture. When action must be taken, new goals must be set, and new standards must be met, the administration depends on teacher leaders to tackle dozens of other duties as assigned—and do whatever it takes to help their peers function as a team, improve as educators, and further student learning. In this book, you'll find varied and engaging guidance for mastering both the concrete and intangible aspects of the essential teacher leader role, including * Thriving in a modern, shared leadership environment * Building positive team culture focused on student learning and achievement * Strengthening professional practice * Gauging your team's progress Authors and veteran educators Jan Burgess and Donna Bates highlight key research findings, provide prompts for reflection, address the common dilemmas of teacher leaders, and give real-world answers to the most-pressing leadership challenges. Along with lists of easily accessible resources to extend your professional learning, you'll find a collection of practical, downloadable tools, surveys, templates, and checklists to help you translate the book's advice into action. Whether you are thinking about becoming a teacher leader, are new to the teacher leadership role, or are a veteran teacher leader committed to the professional growth of your peers and yourself, you'll find something in Other Duties as Assigned to challenge you, make you think, validate your work, enhance your leadership skills, and move your team (and students) forward.

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Retention of African Americans on campus is a burning issue for the black community, and a moral and financial one for predominantly white institutions of higher education. This book offers fresh insights and new strategies developed by fifteen scholars concerned by the new climate in which affirmative action is being challenged and eliminated.This is the first book devoted specifically to retention of African Americans in higher education, and is unique in addressing the distinct but inter-related concerns of all three affected constituencies: students, faculty and administrators. Each is considered in a separate section.The student section shifts attention from, to paraphrase McNairy, "fixing the student" to focussing on higher education's need to examine and, where appropriate, revise policies, curriculum, support services and campus climate. Responding to the new agenda shaped by the opponents of affirmative action, but rejecting the defensive "x percent solutions" espoused by its proponents, this book puts forward new solutions that will provoke debate. Section II begins with a survey of the literature on African American administrators, and presents a Delphi study of twelve administrators to provide an understanding of pathways and barriers to success. The contributors then consider the importance of developing community support and creating alliances, the role of mentoring, and the setting of clear expectations between the individual and the institution.Starting with the recognition that African Americans represent less than five percent of full-time faculty, the chapters in the final section examine the effects of the dismantling of affirmative action, the consequences of faculty salaries trailing more lucrative non-academic employment, the declining enrollment of students of color, the politics of promotion and tenure, and issues of identity and culture. The book concludes by stressing the roles that parents, faculty and administrators must play to empower African American students to take responsibility for their own academic performance.This is a compelling, controversial and constructive contribution to an issue of national importance.