Denise Armstrong – författare

The transition from teacher to administration is a critical developmental period in the formation of administrative identity and praxis for which school districts and novices are seldom prepared. While the study of effective schools consistently highlights the importance of administrators in student success, there is little information on how newcomers become effective leaders, how they are supported once they assume these roles, and what individuals and organizations can do to facilitate them. This book examines administrative leadership transitions through the lens of newly appointed assistant principals. "The few books currently available on the role of the school vice principal tend to be thin little survival guides aimed at practitioners working in the sink or swim environment of a new appointment. All the more reason to celebrate the publication of this substantial new book that skillfully addresses the craft knowledge and phenomenology of the transition from teaching to school administration roles, and does so in a scholarly manner --integrating relevant theory and research within an inspired and memorable conceptual framework of epicycles.The outcome is nothing short of ground breaking.This is an important new addition to the literature on the processes of professional socialization." Paul Begley, Professor of Education, Penn State University, USA "This book offers terrific insights into the different challenges one faces in adjusting to the role of the Assistant Principal, and will provide readers with a rich array of strategies regarding the mental, emotional, social, and physical adjustments required for a successful transition." William D. Greenfield, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Portland State University, USA

This book makes a much needed contribution to what we know about the role and work of the assistant principal. It offers terri c insights into the different challenges one faces after being appointed assistant principal, and it provides readers with a rich array of data regarding the mental, emotional, social, and physical adjustments accompanying one’s transition to this new role. The author refreshingly moves beyond mere description of what assistant prin- pals do as they make their transition to that role, and actually helps us gain a sense of the lived experience of becoming and being an assistant principal. The book gives a realistic picture of the cognitive, social, and emotional con icts and confusions, the daily ups and downs, the fears, frustrations, and highs that are experienced by the men and women undertaking the passage from teaching to administration. This book is distinctive for a number of reasons. It is an empirical study of the role of the assistant principal. There are comparatively few helpful studies, and P- fessor Armstrong’s research adds a solid and much needed addition to that body of work. It focuses on the transition from being a teacher to being an assistant prin- pal, and it reveals much about how the assistant principal’s role transition differs markedly from that of the school principal.