Principal's Support Of Special Education Teachers And Program

Abstract

Historically, principals have served as disciplinarians and the teachers' boss. However, today's principals must also accept responsibilities associated with being their schools' instructional leaders. As instructional leaders, principals maintain the responsibility for the learning of all students, including students with disabilities. This role becomes magnified in school systems that are characterized with special education and educate a large percentage of students with disabilities. For these reasons, today's principal preparation programs need to reconsider and reconstruct philosophies and practices. In this article, the author discusses the role and responsibilities of principals with relation to special education teachers and programs.

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion3

Special Education3

Literature review3

The evolving role of Principals in Special Education3

Responsibilities of Today's Principal4

Principals and the Success of Special Students5

Reforming Principal Preparation Programs6

Research problem7

Methodology8

Data Collection8

Sample9

Approach9

Analysis9

Conclusion10

Reference11

Principal's Support Of Special Education Teachers And Program

Introduction

Resulting from landmark social and legislative events, special education in the United States has undergone drastic changes over the past 30 years. At a time when federal legislation places a greater emphasis on student academic performance and promotes the education of students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment, principals must learn to develop a school culture supportive of students with disabilities. Unfortunately, the special education content of principal preparation programs has remained virtually unchanged

Discussion

Special Education

Special education is the use of general or specially designed courses, teaching materials, teaching methods in teaching children with special needs. Its purpose and mission is to maximize and meet the requirements of social and educational needs of children with special needs by developing their potential, enabling them to increase their knowledge, improving their personality, and social adaptability (Anderegg & Vergason 1996).

Literature review

The evolving role of Principals in Special Education

In recent years, public education in the United States has seen an evolution in the responsibilities associated with today's principals. Historically, the principal served as the school's disciplinarian and the teachers' boss. In this capacity, the principal's job security rested on public perception and the accomplishments of the school's highest achieving students.

Today, the principal's role has evolved to include more complex and demanding responsibilities. This evolution requires today's principals to be leaders of personnel, students, government and public relations, finance, instruction, academic performance, cultural and strategic planning (Buell et al., 1999).

No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act brought the principal's role as instructional leader to the forefront of public education in the United States. Under NCLB, schools must meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) to receive federal funding. Adequate yearly progress, an evaluation system based on student proficiency on standardized assessment performance, dictated that the principal's job performance rested on the performance of all students, including students with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) increased the principal's instructional leadership responsibilities by ensuring that students with disabilities received individualized academic and/ or social instruction in the least restrictive environment. As a result of IDEA, more students with disabilities are educated in the general education classroom, requiring principals to spend more time involved in special education ...