School Principals and Special Education: Creating the Context for Academic Success

Are school administrators and teachers' attitudes toward inclusion influence by the change process?

“…Hu (2011) further adds the shared commitment of the entire school community shall produce a greater positive outcome for students with disabilities taught within inclusive settings. Consistent with the current findings, prior research (Beets, Flay, Vuchinich, Acock, Li, & Allred, 2008;DiPaola, Tschannen-Moran, & Walther-Thomas, 2004;Guzman, 1997;Roach & Salisbury, 2006) suggests the need for administrators and teachers to establish a shared vision for the success of inclusive programs. Hord (1992) and the SEDL (2000) regard monitoring progress as a method to evaluate the effectiveness of a program in efforts to identify problems, challenges and concerns, and resolve them quickly.…”

Inclusion in International Schools: Theoretical Principles, Ethical Practices, and Consequentialist Theories

“…It is the development of a school culture which embraces diversity (Anderson, 2006(Anderson, , 2011DiPaola, Tschannen-Moran, & Walther-Thomas, 2004;Fiedler & Van Haren, 2009;Hansen & Morrow, 2012;Frick, Faircloth, & Little;Kune, 1992). For the purposes of this paper, inclusion is defined as not just the physical integration of a child with disability in the general education setting but rather it is the establishment of a school cultural which practices acceptance.…”

Are Leaders Influenced by Advocates in the Special Education Eligibility Decision?

“…The outcome of the special education eligibility decision leads to instructional and placement decisions for the student in question; these are the concern of school-based administrators, whose role it is to oversee the design, implementation, and evaluation of school programs. Administrators fulfill this role while bound by law, policy, and professional obligation to be concerned with equity and fairness in delivering appropriate educational programs that are high quality, research-based, and high in academic standards and expectations for all children (Crockett, 2002;DiPaola et al, 2004). Research has shown that the inclusion of external agents, such as an educational advocate and private practitioner opinions, impacts consensus decisions, since team members feel pressured to make a particular decision even if eligibility criteria are not met (Furlong & Yanagida, 1985;Shepard, Smith, & Vojir, 1983).…”