Background: For over 50 years, special education has been used as a tool to maintain racial segregation, particularly in schools located in low-income communities of color. This study utilized tenets found in disability critical race theory (DisCrit) and inclusive school leadership literature to examine the perceptions, practices, and challenges associated with meaningful change in inclusive schools. Purpose: The purpose of this article was to understand how six elementary school principals, identified as effective inclusive leaders, perceived students with disabilities within a low-income Mexican American immigrant community along the U.S.–Mexico border. Findings: Our study highlights the important role principals play in creating inclusive schools and the ways in which race, disability, family background, language, and immigration status effect principals in their efforts to promote inclusion. While each principal recognized the noted factors above and confronted a multitude of challenges, they differed in their beliefs and approaches to creating inclusive schools. Some leadership practices were aligned to research focused on effective school leadership while others more closely resembled social justice leadership practices. Conclusion: Findings suggest that principals must take into consideration a variety of factors to create inclusive schools and must draw upon a broad range of practices amid resistance and challenges to meaningful change.

This qualitative study examines the preservice learning experiences of principals who created inclusive schools for students with disabilities. Two research questions guided the study: (1) How do successful principals describe their university-based principal preparation in the area of special education as well as leading inclusive schools for students with disabilities? and (2) What are the leadership practices, skills, and beliefs principals identify that are central to leading special education and inclusive reforms and how were they learned? Findings focus on principal beliefs and values, knowledge and expertise, and instructional leadership practices. The article concludes with implications for leadership preparation programs.

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We report on a five-year initiative that has prepared thousands of future STEM faculty around the world to adopt evidence-based instructional practices by participating in two massive open online courses (MOOCs) and facilitated in-person learning communities. This novel combination of asynchronous online and coordinated, structured face-to-face learning community experiences provides flexible options for STEM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to pursue teaching professional development, while leveraging the affordances of educational technologies and the geographically clustered nature of this target learner demographic. A total of 14,977 participants enrolled in seven offerings of the introductory course held 2014-2018, with 1,725 participants from approximately 60 countries completing at an average course completion rate of 13%. The preparation of future STEM faculty makes an important difference in establishing high-quality instruction that meets the diverse needs of all undergraduate students, and the initiative described here can serve as a model for increasing access to such preparation.

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