Leader Ready: Four Pathways to Prepare Aspiring School Leaders

The solution for preparing excellent school leaders is right in front of you.

The best way to prepare aspiring leaders for principalship is to offer hands-on opportunities to develop the skills they’ll need when they’re in charge. Being a principal calls for originality, innovation, and the ability to work under pressure. Yet so few assistant principals and other aspiring leaders actually get to develop these competencies in meaningful ways that prepare them to lead a school with confidence.

Leader Ready presents a framework that walks aspiring school leaders along the path to strong and independent principalship by using a mix of professional knowledge, modeling, coaching, guided experiences, and mastery experiences. Full of processes, action steps, and examples from the field, features include;

• A research-based plan for creating better conditions for aspiring leaders
• Guidance for achieving systemic professional growth throughout the school year
• Analysis of school-leadership standards to inform practice
• Voices of leaders, aspiring leaders, and experts from the field

Timothy P. Cusack, EdD, has over 30 years of experience as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, and superintendent. Having taught in rural boards in northern and southern Alberta, Tim also has 10 years of experience as a school leader (K–12) and 8 years of experience as a system leader of a large urban school board. Tim currently serves as the Dean of Education of Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) where he leads a teacher preparation program (after degree in education) and a Master of Education in educational leadership program. His doctoral research focuses on new teacher preparation, teacher mentorship, and leadership development. His dissertation (University of Portland, 2020), which centered on preparing aspiring school leaders, evolved into his first book with Corwin: Leader Ready: Four Pathways to Prepare Aspiring School Leaders (2023). Tim has worked with school jurisdictions across Canada and the United States in sharing his passion for leadership development and teacher mentorship.

Tim also serves in the Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve) and is currently the Commanding Officer of HMCS Nonsuch, Edmonton’s naval reserve division. His experience in K–12 education, postsecondary leadership, and military leadership adds richness and depth to his work as an educational consultant and author.

Vince Bustamante, EdD, is a Calgary-based instructional coach, curriculum content developer, and author. Vince specializes in working with teachers, leadership teams, schools, and school districts in implementing high impact strategies and systems. With a strong background in implementation, assessment, and deep learning, he is passionate about understanding and evaluating teachers′ impact. Having worked with schools and school districts across North America and internationally, he brings a wide variety of experience and perspectives when looking at school improvement, pedagogical and leadership development, and implementation of high impact strategies across school environments. Vince’s doctoral research focused on the sustainable implementation of professional learning across school districts and the impact of long-term school partnerships.

Vince has co-authored two bestselling books with Corwin Press: Great Teaching by Design and The Assessment Playbook for Distance and Blended Learning. His other title, Leader Ready: Four Pathways to Prepare Aspiring School Leaders, is also available from Corwin Press. You can find more information about Vince at www.vincebustamante.com.