There is a gap between principal preparation and principal readiness. This book lives in that gap.

Before You Get the Keys - What Aspiring Principals Must Know Before They Lead is written by Ninia Mouzone, Principal of Forest Park High School in Baltimore City Public Schools, where she led the school from Comprehensive Support and Improvement status to a three-star rating - the only traditional high school in the district to earn that designation. She did not write this book from a distance. She wrote it from inside the work, while still doing it.

This is not a competency manual. It is an identity text.

Organized around the Mouzone Model(TM) - a proprietary framework with four phases: Discover, Design, Deliver, and Document - twelve chapters move through the work that preparation programs consistently leave unfinished. Each chapter is anchored in a specific story from Mouzone's own principalship: the break-in no one else saw, the supervisor who said because I said so, the student who texted her the year he graduated to say he wasn't ready, the team of first-year teachers she led from her seat before anyone gave her a title to lead from.

What this book covers:

• The identity work that has to happen before the authority work can mean anything
• How to build a culture that outlasts your presence in the building
• The difference between standards and compliance - and why it matters for every student in your care
• What coaching actually requires that evaluation can never produce
• How to lead before you have the title - and why starting now is not optional

Each chapter closes with The Pivot Point(TM) - a four-question coaching tool that moves the reader from reflection to application. A full companion workbook with 48 original coaching questions is available separately.

Before You Get the Keys is for the educator who is already leading from wherever they sit and is ready for someone to tell them the truth about what the keys actually unlock.