| The importance of leadership is critical with current accountability for student performance. The increased accountability for school leaders has caused a change in leadership roles to incorporate collaboration and shared leadership. Assistant principals are included in the concept of distributive leadership. A review of the literature shows qualities of leaders that promote student success to meet accountability requirements. In addition, the literature indicates assistant principals' roles in leadership. The history of administrator evaluations shows progression and development of the new Principal Evaluation Instrument for North Carolina Principals and Assistant Principals.;This study seeks to identify proficiencies and deficiencies to assess assistant principals' skills using the Principal Evaluation Instrument. Roles and responsibilities of assistant principals are ascertained from a survey the researcher designed. The survey consisted of the seven standards from the Principal Evaluation Instrument plus the areas of discipline, campus building/safety, student activities, and maintenance areas that are not directly addressed on the Principal Evaluation Instrument. Respondents reported that these four additional areas consume over 46.7 percent of the respondents' time, yet are not included on the evaluation instrument.;The correlational mixed method study compares assistant principal summary evaluation rates in one school district in North Carolina to roles and responsibilities of assistant principals in the same district. Results of the calculation from Spearman rho at the .05 indicate a weak positive correlation with no significant between the two identified variables with the all assistant principals with the seven standards and with four additional areas. With separate groups of elementary and second assistant principals there is also a weak, correlation with no statistical significance. Data from focus group interviews are coded by themes to support the Spearman correlation coefficient. The direct quotes explain the quantitative data showing the task demands with the roles and responsibilities and professional development needs.;Further development and research could include creation of the professional development recommended by the study for assistant principals and principals. In addition, work could be targeted to develop job descriptions for assistant principals and examine the differences between the roles of assistant principals between elementary and secondary. The long-range goal of this study is to better prepare assistant principals in leadership skills for succession planning. |
