Since Brown and Austin's seminal study of the assistant principal in 1970, research has been limited regarding the growing importance of this position. The research over the past four decades on the assistant principal has shown a consistent pattern assistant principals exercise influence mainly in the areas of clerical duties, instructional supervision, organizational duties, and student discipline with varying opportunities for instructional leadership. Assistant principals are seeking leadership roles that maximize their skillsets and talents. As principals take on more accountability issues, the need to distribute leadership becomes an important leadership task. This research project focused on assistant principals and the manner in which they perceive the distribution of leadership by their principals. The researcher utilized a survey consisting of twenty items related to themes emerging from the literature on distributed leadership: Empowerment, Work Design, Capacity Building, Positive Work Climate, and Sense of Team Purpose. Results indicated that elements of distributed leadership were present in most schools, with the lowest scores being in the area of Capacity Building. Further, an analysis of time allocation revealed that more time is spent on discipline than on instruction, even though discipline was inversely related to elements of distributed leadership, while time spent on instruction was positively correlated with all elements of distributed leadership. Combined, the results of the present study highlight the importance of distributed leadership and time allocation among high school assistant principals.
