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The research focused on a comparatively brief ten-day residency and described the value early-career practitioners derived from it. Using individual semi-structured interviews across rural, suburban, and urban contexts, the study investigated principals’ learning needs and the perceived value of their administrative field experience. Findings indicated strong demand for practical building-level knowledge and experience, with varying confidence based on prior field exposure.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/instructional-leader-field-experience-and-policy-implications-in-alabama/591186/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/instructional-leader-field-experience-and-policy-implications-in-alabama/591186.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"McQueen","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What was the purpose of the study about Alabama’s field experience policy?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study examined how assistant principals perceived the benefits of Alabama’s required field experience for preparing instructional leaders, especially in relation to their learning needs and administrative practice.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How was the research conducted?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study used Clandinin’s narrative inquiry approach with individual semi-structured interviews of five assistant principals from rural, suburban, and urban locales during spring and fall 2021.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What did participants report as most needed for their roles?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Participants emphasized that practical building-level knowledge and experience were most needed to perform current duties effectively.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},591186,1792481766,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41,"preview_page_count":4},5909890329169,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Higher Education Studies  \nINSTRUCTIONAL LEADER FIELD EXPERIENCE AND  \nPOLICY IMPLICATIONS IN ALABAMA  \nKimberly Joy Rushing  \nAuburn University  \nAbstract  \nThis narrative study explored the administrative internship experiences of five assistant principalsin Alabama for the purpose of better understanding how these school leaders perceived the benefits of Alabama’s policy requirement for field experience in their practice. Attention towards this comparatively brief ten-day internship sought to describe the value early career practitioners placed on this experience and to better understand policy implications for instructional leaders. Through individual, semi-structured interviews with assistant principals from rural, suburban, and urban locales, this study asked 1) How do assistant principals describe their professional learning needs and 2)How do assistant principals describe the value of their administrative field experience? Findings show that participants believed practical, building level knowledge and experience was most needed in order to successfully manage their current duties. Those whose school leadership experience was limited to the ten-day internship experience expressed sediments of being underprepared for their position while those who had longer field experiences and additional leadership responsibilities prior to their assistant role, expressed greater confidence in their abilities.  \nKeywords: Instructional Leader Field Experience, School Administrator Internship, Assistant Principal Learning, Alabama Field Experience Policy, School Leader Development.  \nLead author’s note: The authors provide permission to publish this manuscript. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to [joyrushing@gmail.com](joyrushing@gmail.com) or 205-616-1919.  \nIntroduction  \nSchool leaders, specifically building principals and assistant principals, shape a school environment in overarching and profound ways. Leaders directly and indirectly contribute to the successful outcomes of students (Day et al., 2016; Leithwood et al., 2020) and are the catalyst for change within their school (Ni et al., 2018) . Because of the school leader’s high level of influence in and upon a learning organization, the preparation experiences required for certification as an instructional leader are important to consider. Principals and assistant principals (APs) start their formal, professional leader learning with an experience in an academic credentialing program (Acton, 2021) that intends to prepare teachers for administrative positions where they will be equipped to serve students in the best possible ways. However, the quality of licensing and graduate programs that certify principals varies greatly (Anderson & Turnbull, 2016) and coursework has been criticized as being disconnected from practice (Cunningham et al., 2019) . In the effort to provide practical experience in the school leadership role, most states have policies that require administrative field experience in the form of an internship prior to certification. These policies are notable because practical experience and mentorship opportunities are often cited as meaningful learning opportunities for emerging leaders (Cohen & Schechter, 2019) .  \nAlabama’s policy requires a ten-day residency (Alabama Education Code, 2015) which is comparatively brief when considering the requirements of other states. The length of the field experience requirement in Alabama is questionable, and in response, this research was an effort toward a better understanding of how this policy contributed to the preparation needs of current school leaders. This qualitative study explored the beliefs of five Alabama APs concerning their learning needs and preparation for their position. To do so, this research asked 1) How do assistant principals describe their professional learning needs and 2) How do they describe the value of their administrative internship experience? Using Clandinin’s (2016)","cbCaic8nI8JYVnl3","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaic8nI8JYVnl3","pdf",275460,12,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Policy Requirements\n# Theoretical Framework and Review of Literature\n# Policy Requirements","[{\"question\":\"What was the purpose of the study about Alabama’s field experience policy?\",\"answer\":\"The study examined how assistant principals perceived the benefits of Alabama’s required field experience for preparing instructional leaders, especially in relation to their learning needs and administrative practice.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the research conducted?\",\"answer\":\"The study used Clandinin’s narrative inquiry approach with individual semi-structured interviews of five assistant principals from rural, suburban, and urban locales during spring and fall 2021.\"},{\"question\":\"What did participants report as most needed for their roles?\",\"answer\":\"Participants emphasized that practical building-level knowledge and experience were most needed to perform current duties effectively.\"}]","INSTRUCTIONAL LEADER FIELD EXPERIENCE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS IN ALABAMA | PDF",1792071296]