Congratulations on landing your first assistant principal position! This is a major career milestone to celebrate. However, now comes the transition period before your official start date – which can often be several months long, depending on when you were offered the job. How can you maximize this time to hit the ground running in your new AP role? Here are 5 crucial actions to take:
Build Relationships Early
Don’t wait until your first official day to start connecting with your new colleagues. Reach out to introduce yourself to key people you’ll be working with – the principal, other APs, teacher leaders, office staff. Ask if you can meet for coffee chats or school visits to begin establishing rapport. The sooner you can cultivate these relationships, the smoother your transition will be.
Shadow Current Leaders
While you may not have an official leadership role yet, this interim period is prime time to observe current administrators in action. Ask to shadow the principal and seasoned APs for a day. Watch how they interact with staff, handle discipline, and lead meetings. Jot down questions, reflections, and ideas while you observe. This shadowing experience can yield invaluable insights before you step into the role yourself.
Understand the Vision and Goals
Dive deep into understanding the current school vision, improvement plan, and goals. Read up on any strategic initiatives, school performance data, or stakeholder feedback. Familiarize yourself with the school’s current reality and priorities. Consider how your own leadership vision aligns. Having this big-picture perspective will allow you to engage in goal-driven work from the start.
Clarify Expectations
Connect with your principal to get crystal clear on what will be expected of you once you officially begin. Discuss specific responsibilities, timelines, communication protocols, and evaluation metrics. Knowing these expectations upfront allows you to do any necessary skill-building or preparation to meet them with confidence. It also provides focus to keep your work aligned to the principal’s priorities.
Develop a 100-Day Plan
Don’t let your first 100 days as a new AP become a reactive whirlwind. Be proactive by drafting your entry plan now. You will not know what every single day will look like, but you can definitely start outlining your key goals, action steps, and milestones for those crucial first months. Include things like staff one-on-ones, instructional walkthroughs, and team meetings. Having this roadmap ready will help you stay grounded, focused, and on-track when the whirlwind happens. One of my favorite things to do in July, before our teachers return to campus, is schedule 90 minutes on my calendar for classroom observations every single day of the school year. I may not use every one of those windows, but I have them built into my calendar before anyone else can schedule something in those time slots. It was a game-changer for me when I started doing this.
Bonus Tip!
If you don’t do any of the things I have listed above, do yourself a favor and read this book. This is the one book I wish I had before I became an assistant principal. It would have saved me so many headaches during my first couple of years as a new assistant principal.
In Conclusion…
The period between accepting an AP job and actually transitioning into one is a strategic time many new assistant principals don’t leverage enough. Use these 5 tips to make the most of it, so you can start your new role ready to make an impact on day one.
Want more resources for new assistant principals? This is a good place to start.
🏆 Visit our Gumroad store now and discover:
- Tailored packages for every stage of your journey
- Expert-crafted guides and templates
- Resources to help you stand out in interviews
- Tools to define your unique leadership philosophy
Want more tips for rocking your AP role? Subscribe to our newsletter!