The passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 gave the public schools a clear responsibility to appropriately educate students with disabilities. This responsibility emerged from a combination of philosophy, law, policy, and procedures oriented towards the "normalization" of services to persons with disabilities. These services have developed as a general responsibility of the whole system and not as a separate component of the educational enterprise. In order to meet federal mandates, the complementary disciplines of general and special education leadership have had to integrate or link, in order to address the responsibility for the delivery of services to students with disabilities. In doing so, general education administrators have become responsible for the education and success of all students, including those students with disabilities. Yet, many of these administrators have not been prepared or trained to serve special population groups, so their task of educating all students becomes more complex. A literature synthesis suggested 12 components that all educational administrators should be trained in to serve students with disabilities: (a) relationship building and communication; (b) leadership and vision; (c) budget and capital; (d) laws and policies; (e) curriculum and instruction; (f) personnel; (g) evaluation of data, programs, students, and teachers; (h) collaboration and consultation; (i) special education programming; (j) organization; (k) professional development; and (l) advocacy. To determine if such training is occurring in elite institutions, 293 professors at University Council for Educational Administration member institutions completed an online survey. Results indicated that relationship building and communication as well as leadership and vision were being taught at the highest percentages. The components of budget and capital, advocacy, and special education programming were incorporated the least. Interestingly, the results showed that the component being required learning in the institution's program or the professor believing the component to be essential for future administrators had little impact on whether it was taught. The major factors in professors regularly teaching a component was their expertise in the area and whether it was part of their research agenda. / text

Thesis advisor: Patrick Proctor / This study aimed to explore middle leadership from a single K-12 district. To accomplish this, an exploratory, embedded single case study (Yin, 2018) was utilized. The district was the case while one elementary, middle, and high school were embedded “sub-units” in the case. A principal, middle leader, and 2 middle leader colleagues further represented each school. This method was employed in order to illuminate how middle leadership was experienced through multiple perspectives and contexts but within the same district. This dissertation also took a narrative approach, beginning in understanding the conditions that led to the creation of middle leadership roles, to the selection, conceptualization, and evaluations of middle leaders. Then, middle leaders were asked about how the district can further support their roles. Results indicated that external (standardized tests, changes in standards or curriculum) and internal (desire for district consistency and cohesion) and factors influenced the creation of middle leadership positions. Middle leaders were selected based on their teaching and leadership experiences. However, conceptualization of middle leaders in the district extended beyond teaching. In addition to teaching, middle leaders were also conceptualized as strategic planners, people with good interpersonal and communication skills, managers, coaches, and evaluators. Evaluation of middle leaders were based on state-based evaluation frameworks for teachers or administrators that showcased a misalignment of responsibility and evaluation processes. To support their roles in the district, middle leaders suggested a combination of internal and external support. Internally, they suggested the creation of a within-district, middle leader-specific professional learning community in order to have opportunities to share best practices and collectively think about problems and solutions. Externally, they would also appreciate the district’s support in attending formal professional development such as courses or certification programs. These results indicate that there is a need for middle leadership-specific classes, programs, and evaluation frameworks and that middle leaders would also benefit greatly in the creation of mentorship programs or professional learning communities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

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