Special education administrators at both the district and school level are serving in critical roles that uniquely position them to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of students with disabilities by ensuring the special education teachers under their supervision are prepared to deliver an evidence-based form of intensive…

An increased emphasis on collecting and using data in schools has occurred, in part, because of the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). Commonly referred to as response to intervention in the academic domain and school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports in the behavioral domain, these initiatives have a…

Schools implementing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are often confronted with concerns from a variety of educational stakeholders about school climate, teaching behavioral expectations, the role of reinforcement, and labeling students. Administrators should be prepared to respond to these concerns with theoretical and…

The requirement that individualized education program (IEP) teams make decisions about the participation of students with disabilities in general or alternate state- and district-wide assessments is nearly two decades old. The decisions that must be made have become more complicated with the addition, in some states, of alternate assessments based…

Due to privatization of higher education in India, there has been an emergence of sub-standard schools throughout the country. The higher education system in teaching institutes lacks incentives to perform; there is no reward for the meritorious and no way to ease out the non-performers. The quality of teaching and research cannot be evaluated…

School accountability reports reveal that wide achievement gaps exist among different subgroups of students in PK-12 schools. Research findings reveal that general and special education teachers improve their classroom practices when working in professional learning communities (PLCs). In addition, research shows that special education teachers…

Principals are a critical component of creating a positive school environment that supports new teachers to meet the diverse needs of their students. The induction process for beginning special educators can often be more challenging for school administrators and may require different supports than those provided for novice general educators. The…

The role of the school administrator as an instructional leader has had a long history. However, today this role is more important than ever as high stakes testing has increased the level of accountability for all educators. Districts across the country be they urban, suburban, or rural are scraping for every dollar and at the same time many…

This article aims at providing insight into ways of constructing leadership for learning within a Norwegian context. The focus is on how a Norwegian principal talks about educational leadership and learning. The principal's story is juxtaposed with references to how her deputies and a group of teachers frame their experiences about leadership for…

Over the years, the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) has searched for mechanisms to share information that is important and helpful to the CASE membership. During the past year, CASE initiated the use of "Survey Monkey" as a mechanism to obtain information and opinions from the membership. This article shares some of the input…

Few educators today would argue with statements about the growing diversity of the children being educated in most schools. There is acceptance and often celebration of this diversity, including the growth and dispersal of the population of children and youth from diverse linguistic backgrounds, but there are also concerns about the ability to…

The emphasis on research-based instructional methods makes it especially important for educators to be using instructional strategies known to be effective for English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities. Unfortunately, the literature base that addresses instructional strategies for diverse populations of students with varying language…

School districts, like many other societal groups, function as a system--a dynamically complex web of interaction in which each aspect of the district affects all other aspects. School districts have many outside forces to which they must respond, including state and federal mandates. These mandates impose top-down initiatives with little to no…

This brief article notes a trend toward more reactive school administration practices in response to increased regulatory requirements and identifies problems encountered by special education administrators contributing to this reactive approach. It reports on one school district's proactive development of a "Unified Support Services Process and…