If you have questions pertaining to your current eligibility as a school-based AP applicant, please ask! We will do our best to provide timely responses.
Email Caitlin Moriarty and Alexandra Guillen. We will post responses in the Google Doc at the end of this site.
Introduction
Welcome! If you are here, it is because you are curious about how you can become an assistant principal in MCPS, or you have already decided to pursue that course.
We are here to support you and answer any questions you may have, but you may also return to this site as a reference. If your answer is not here, use the red button below to contact us.
Use the Table of Contents (below) to get answers to most frequently asked questions.
Table of Contents
Essential Qualifications
The first step in our hiring process is an initial screening of all applicants to the pool. If you do not meet ALL of the following essential qualifications, your application will not be considered.
- A master's degree from an accredited college or university with an emphasis in supervision, educational administration, school curriculum, or a closely related field; an official transcript with conferred degree.
- A minimum of five (5) years of successful teaching, school counseling, serving as a pupil personnel worker, or as a school psychologist.
- Three (3) years of successful leadership experience; may include serving as a team leader, resource teacher, content specialist, assistant school administrator, central services administrator, staff development teacher, or instructional specialist. The internship you completed while earning your admin certification DOES NOT count towards the three years of leadership experience. Other leadership experience may include leading professional development, coordinating an academy, or serving on the instructional leadership team. We will, of course, evaluate the sum of your leadership experience, but each experience should be substantial, in and of itself. For more information regarding what qualifies as leadership experience, see the section titled "What is an artifact?"
- Certification in the state of Maryland, Administrator I, OR elementary, secondary, or special education principal/supervisor, OR the equivalent certification from another state. ALL applicants must provide an official copy of certification(s).
A special note for current MCPS employees; If an official transcript conferring an additional degree and/or admin certification have not already been submitted to the MCPS Certification Unit, please do so now.
Your Application
When you apply to a position, you are asked to REVIEW your profile and ATTACH documents. It is important that you do both; ensure that your profile includes the most updated information, AND that you attach all required documents in the correct format.
Please upload PDF versions of all documents. File names should include your last name, first initial and document content (ex. CMoriartyLetter.pdf, or MoriartyCAdminCert.pdf)
To be considered for the AP Pool, you must attach the following documents to your MCPS Careers profile;
- a letter of interest, including level (elementary, middle, or high), addressed to the Associate Superintendent, Office of Human Resources and Development (Mrs. Lance Dempsey)
- an updated resume explicitly demonstrating required education, training, at least three years of successful leadership experience, and a minimum of five years of successful teaching, PPW, school counseling, or psychologist experience
- a scanned copy of your current MSDE Certificate showing Administrator I (or administrator certificate from another state)
- 2 current artifacts that showcase the work you have done and the impact of that work (PDF files only)
What is an Artifact? What Isn't?
When we use the word "artifact" in the A.P. application, we mean "work product." It is evidence of your current leadership practices, attitudes and beliefs. We look for A.P. candidates whose work aligns with our core values and guiding principles. We do NOT expect that you can demonstrate ALL of your skills and knowledge in just two artifacts. In fact, the choice you make in selecting artifacts can be meaningful information as well.
Artifact is a combination of two Latin words, arte, meaning "by skill" and factum which means "to make." Usually when you use the word artifact, you are describing something crafted that was used for a particular purpose during a much earlier time *
Essentially, the THREE artifacts you submit illustrate the "best" version of you as an instructional leader. Most importantly, your artifacts must be AUTHENTIC, CURRENT and demonstrate YOUR leadership. You "made them...by your skill."
So what is an artifact, literally? In many cases it is part of a slide presentation you used for a specific purpose, but your impact as a leader could be demonstrated in an overview and analysis of an equity initiative you led, achievement data and the corresponding data analysis, or a professional development plan for a teacher you supported, and on which some results are evident.
The panel with whom you interview will also be reviewing your artifacts. Therefore, make sure you consider your audience. Lengthy slide shows are quite possibly less effective than images of two or three slides that accompany a concise telling of why you did the work you did, and how your work impacted children. Your panel will need some context to understand the relevance of each artifact, but they do not have an hour to review them.
Some broad topics to consider;
- improvement of teaching and learning
- school culture and climate
- social emotional well-being
- systemic initiatives
- equity
- school and office operations
- pupil services
Guiding questions to consider;
- What was your goal in initiating the work and why?
- What was your role in the work?
- What qualitative or quantitative data shows that you made a difference?
- What did you learn and what would you do differently?
Non-examples of artifacts
While some of the following might be part of an artifact, it is highly unlikely any one could stand on its own in this application;
- an award
- a certificate of completion
- an observation or evaluation
- a letter of recommendation
Why is the site below a non-example?
Cool site, right? And what a great idea! This is work anyone willing to take on lunch detention could do...would a principal really say "no" to a teacher who wanted to support students in improving attendance, and writing skills, at lunch?
But WHY was this work important? And what was the impact on student performance? The admin hopeful did not include any pre- or post- student data pertaining to students' individual and collective attendance rates or grades. Maybe she forgot to gather it while it was in process. No problem! In most cases, data like this is stored. It will take some work, but this artifact can't hold water if you can't show the impact. Even if it turns out, student attendance did not improve, you can reflect on the why. What would you do differently?
What other ideas do you have? What if I am an elementary school teacher? A PPW? What if I am a "teacher" with a non-traditional role who works with only two or three students?
No matter what your title says, you CAN demonstrate your leadership skills. Keep in mind...you need to demonstrate leadership stamina, too. No lasting impact on student performance happens in a week.
When you are planning to apply to the AP pool, consider how you can demonstrate your impact over time. Did you organize a health fair for the community? Chances are, you organized a committee, planned agenda, communicated with a variety of stakeholders, trained student or peer leaders...did a whole lot of leadership work prior to the day of the fair. The panel doesn't need a twenty page portfolio, but they do need to see that your work is akin to the scope of work as a school administrator.
But what if I don't have a leadership role?
Below are some examples of instructional leadership experiences that are not position-dependent. These examples may also be valuable in selecting artifacts.
Instructional leadership is not position-dependent, although it is embedded in some roles (ex. assistant school administrator, content specialist).
Examples -
- It took some initiative on the part of a teacher, for example, to plan, initiate, maintain and monitor the success of a department-wide initiative to flip classrooms. His data demonstrated measurable improvement for some students' learning, but it negatively impacted others. His reflection became a part of his artifact.
- A school psychologist gathers data regularly. However, developing and implementing regularly scheduled professional development for counselors as a result of patterns in the data is evidence of leadership.
- A school counselor sat in on a few instructional leadership team meetings and saw a need for improved communication among the team members. She assessed the need with her principal, including current practices and their effectiveness, and eventually created a new communication protocol for the ILT. The goal was to increase the amount of time the ILT allotted to instruction in meetings. Finally, she then monitored the group's progress until the end of the year.
If you do not have the requisite leadership experience yet, consider asking your staff development teacher, resource teacher, assistant principal, or principal if you can take on some of the work for which s/he is accountable. Be ready to demonstrate your leadership experience in a future opportunity to apply; NOT possessing an artifact that meets the criteria is likely evidence that you are not quite ready yet.
References
You must obtain two references to complete your application. BOTH must be from principals or supervisors, and ONE must be from your current principal/supervisor.
If you have only been in your current position for less than six months, you may ask your former principal/supervisor to be your primary reference. You may not, however, submit an old reference for a different position.
Once your principals/supervisors have agreed to serve as references for this application, provide them with the form titled "Reference for Entry-Level Assistant Principal Pool." The version you should use is dated December 2018. You may not submit this form yourself; it must be sent to our office by the person completing the form. Additionally, references cannot be submitted until we have your application.
If your principal/supervisor prefers, you may provide him or her with a paper copy, but once the document is completed and signed, it should be scanned and emailed directly to the A&S drop box.
We will email you a confirmation when we receive each reference form; if you do not hear from us, we have not received it. It is generally good practice to confirm two weeks prior to the deadline that your form has been submitted; this means providing your references more than two weeks to complete it.
A Checklist
Before you click "submit," believing you have completed your application, run through the following checklist. This is exactly what we do on our end when determining who will pass through the first screening process;
Have you submitted the following documents?
- an updated resume that includes;
- your current position
- specific months and years for each position
- name and contact information that matches your profile
- degree(s) and certification required for the position
- explicit demonstration of three years successful leadership experience
- five years experience teaching, counseling, serving as a PPW, or school psychologist
- Letter of interest, including level (elementary, middle, or high) addressed to the Associate Superintendent, Office of Human Resources and Development, Mrs. Lance Dempsey
- 2 current artifacts that showcase your educational leadership and the impact of that work (PDF files only)
- scanned copy of MSDE Certificate of Administrator I, or comparable out-of-state certification
Have your references been submitted?
- Two reference forms from principals/supervisors (one must be from current principal/supervisor)
- References must be emailed directly to AdminStaffing@mcpsmd.org by the person completing the reference form
- At least two weeks prior to the deadline, contact your references if you have not yet received confirmation from OHRD that we have received both.
Helpful Tips
Learn from the mistakes many before you have made.
Avoid the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to providing information.
Ask a colleague skilled in proofreading to help you.
Include time-specific information in your resume.
Upload ALL documents in PDF format.
Delete all resumes EXCEPT the one you want considered.
If you don't know the format for a letter of interest, it is easy to find a sample online.
