Frustrations, Obstacles, and Recommended Changes: A Juxtaposition of the Assistant Principalship and Principalship

The emergence of federal and state educational mandates makes administrators vulnerable to severe scrutiny if schools do not perform to expected levels. As the face of American education continues to transform, reformist must reweave the fabric of administrative training requirements to better cloak the exposed gaps in the profession. Research is beginning to reveal a substantial connection between quality school leadership and student success (Shelton, 2010; Sun, 2011; Louis et al., 2010), and policymakers need to craft guidelines to better prepare our administrators. With literature bolstering the conception that effective leaders host effective schools, determining what impedes administrators from focusing on student achievement must be addressed. To help improve administrator preparation programs and guide reform, this research was conducted to compartmentalize the perceived frustrations and obstacles experienced by assistant principals as compared to principals. The results indicated assistant principals experienced greater frustrations, perceived more obstacles or restrictions, and recommended the most change with regard to items dealing with students, parents, and teachers while principals felt more dissatisfaction with bureaucracy and lack of resources. The conclusions from this study contain dichotomic findings for education reformist as they recalibrate preparation programs by better understanding the distinct frustrations and obstacles of the assistant principalship and principalship.