A descriptive study of the role of the assistant principal in the Jewish Day School

Abstract

The position of assistant principal has existed since the mid-1920s. Although the assistant principal's role has evolved, no consensus exists as to its defined nature. Traditionally, assistant principals spent most of their time working on student discipline, attendance, and various administrative/non-educational duties. This study seeks to define the assistant principal's role in Jewish Day Schools. The study contains four sections: respondents identified the duties they perform in school; respondents recorded their perceptions of the importance of those duties; the study's results were compared to two national studies performed on behalf of the NASSP; results were examined in terms of religious denomination, type of school, and gender.;Results indicated that assistant principals ranked staff development, new teachers and staff orientations, involvement in school policies, innovations, experiments and research, special arrangements at the start and close of the school year, student discipline, and faculty meetings as their primary responsibilities. Assistant principals ranked curriculum development, instructional methods, teacher selection, teacher appraisal, student discipline, student testing, and staff development as their most important duties. These results suggest that the assistant principal's role in Jewish Day Schools differs from the assistant principal's role in the national studies. The results also revealed a statistical difference between variable groups.;The following conclusions were drawn from the study's findings: 1. Assistant principals in Jewish Day Schools feel it's more important for them to work on direct educational duties, rather than non-direct educational duties. 2. Assistant principals are heavily involved in controlling student discipline and believe it's an important part of their role. 3. When comparing this study with national studies, evidence suggests that the assistant principal's role in Jewish Day Schools is significantly different than that of the assistant principal nationally. 4. Assistant principals in Conservative schools have more public roles than those in Orthodox schools.;The results of this study suggest recommendations for further research. The following are a few of the recommendations: 1. Development of a qualitative study on the assistant principal's role in Jewish Day Schools. 2. Development of preparatory programs to develop assistant principals' skills. 3. Creating staff development initiatives for assistant principals.