Successful Transitions

Samantha Clay

Blog 3

A recent success I’ve had has been transitioning from a school-based position to the district office.  In just a couple more weeks I will have completed my first year in a new role supporting School Test Coordinators (typically Assistant Principals in my district) with the implementation of national, state and district assessments.  I knew from the moment I saw this position posted last summer that this was the position I was born for.  I’ve had the most amazing year learning, growing and making so many new connections.  On top of that, I’ve been able to transition to a role where I spend a lot of time training and developing adults and collaborating with other departments such as IT and Curriculum, which has allowed me to apply things I’ve learned in my MHRD, MPA and EdS programs as well.  I’ve been able to meet all the goals I set out to accomplish this year and look forward to adding more responsibilities and partnering with other departments to manage projects related to district testing this coming year.  My transition has been such a success because of the amazing support I have received from the Director of my department.  I can only hope that if I ever transition back into a school as an assistant principal I receive the same type of mentorship and support. 

In my district, the assistant principal (AP) role is a stepping stone to becoming a principal.  In most instances, APs are provided with support from their principals as they learn the ropes, but in a couple of cases, instead of being used as a residency to learn a multifaceted approach to the position and the importance of instructional leadership, I have spoken with APs who are often consumed by the day-to-day building management issues.  I think that in order for APs to be as effective as possible, they deserve to have the requisite training and development necessary to prepare them to be successful by being immersed in the instructional aspects of the school.  My district has just implemented a Leadership Cohort for current assistant principals where they meet monthly as a cohort to refine their skills as a small group of APs in order to be groomed for future roles as principals.  Now that we are implementing better training and supports for APs, and I hope the experiences are pushed out to include more APs so that everyone receives the training, development and mentorship necessary to be successful school leaders.