The purpose of this study is to identify assistant principals' self-reported levels of preparedness to support special education teachers and programming. "Special education is a federal mandate that is governed by state and local policies. For schools to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities, school leaders must be competent in order to effectively lead these programs" (Thompson, 2017, p. 46). In Virginia, special education is the highest critical shortage category of the top ten academic disciplines identified in the annual survey and has been since the 2006 published report (Virginia Department of Education, 2020). This quantitative study, may help to identify strengths and areas for growth for assistant principals in one school division and guide professional learning experiences for administrators moving forward. The study will include a purposeful sample of school based, Pk-12 assistant principals. Participants were invited to complete a three-part electronic survey questionnaire. The survey tool, developed by the researcher, aligned with the Council for Exceptional Children Initial and Advanced Preparedness Standards (2015). Participants provided demographic information, a Likert scale rating of their perceptions of preparedness to support special education teachers and programming, when considering eighteen job related statements, and recommendations for professional learning. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and identify findings and implications. Results of the study indicated that assistant principals agree they are prepared to support all areas of special education teachers and programming with the exception of post-secondary transition planning for students with disabilities. Results also indicated that assistant principals with an endorsement in special education agreed at a higher rate that they are prepared to support special education teachers and programming. Assistant principals identified professional learning needs in the areas of post-secondary transition opportunities for students with disabilities, support in understanding and implementing new law and policy related to special education, and support in the area of development of new programs, supports and services for students with disabilities. Findings and related implications were discussed and recommendations for future research were identified. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this study was to investigate assistant principals' self-reported preparedness to support special education teachers and programming. The study results identify responsibilities related to special education and relevant topic areas where assistant principals are prepared to support teachers and programming as well as areas where they do not agree they are prepared. The study also identifies areas where participants report they need additional professional learning opportunities, provided by the school division and outside of the school division. This study, using quantitative methodology, included a purposeful sample of school based, Pk-12 assistant principals. The research questions guiding the study were: (1) What are the self-reported perceptions of assistant principals' levels of preparedness to support special education teachers and programming? (2) What professional learning do assistant principals report that they need to increase their levels of preparedness to support special education teachers and programming? Participants were invited to complete a three-part electronic survey questionnaire. The survey tool was developed based on the Council for Exceptional Children Initial and Advanced Preparedness Standards (2015). Participants provided demographic information, a Likert scale ratings, and recommendations for professional learning. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results of the study indicated that assistant principals agree they are prepared to support all areas of special education teachers and programming with the exception of post-secondary transition planning for students with disabilities. Results also indicated that assistant principals with an endorsement in special education agreed at a higher rate that they are prepared to support special education teachers and programming. Assistant principals identified professional learning needs in the areas of post-secondary transition opportunities for students with disabilities, support in understanding and implementing new law and policy related to special education, and support in the area of development of new programs, supports and services for students with disabilities. Findings and related implications were discussed and recommendations for future research were identified.

The development of interorganisational cooperation networks is increasingly exalted as a growing alternative. Its importance is strongly visible regarding the small and medium size enterprises that, because of the great competitiveness existent, can t act separately, so, they become ruled by the market. The fact is that the networks only get great advantages if several conditions are fulfilled, which makes the process a little more complex. Anyway, most studies, with some exceptions, asserts that this is an excellent opportunity of stableness and even of increasing in the market where the enterprises are inserted. Even though from the empirical view-point, one can observe an expressive number of enterprises which leave the cooperative process.This exploratory study of qualitative character objective to find out the reasons that lead the enterprise decision to leave the network, because it can be an alternative for minimizing the problems that emerge during the associative process and that make impossible the extent of the stipulated objectives. Therefore, there were interviews with: 1) five enterprises of pharmacy branch which had participated in a specific network; 2) the interorganisational network and; 3) a new format of interorganisational network to which most of enterprises migrated, all of them located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. From these interviews it could compare and confront different situations and perceptions of enterprise and network, arriving the pertinent analyses regarding the network problems, the associate enterprise profile, the selective process practiced in the associativist movement and the reasons that lead the enterprises to leave the networks. In response to this study problematic the results evidenced some variants, to cite: the size of the participant enterprises, information asymmetry, distrust relationship, managing process developed by networks, and the costbenefit relation that results from that movement. Another conclusion resulting from the research evidences that the network format and verifies that its survival is related to the managing features which are many times argued by associated enterprises: rigid rules and minimal share of purchasing by associate, this guarantee the bargain power which so many enterprises look for in the associativist process. All these variables, according to the evidences from these analyses, influence in the enterprise decisions for staying or not in the network. And they can support the networks which look for the success in their cooperations. This way, the reason diagnosis that lead an enterprise to leave the network to which it belonged, contributes to all stages that constitute the network development. This involves since the creation of its statute, formalization of its contracts and choice of its associates. It has even the possibility to accomplish the withdrawal of some enterprise for dissastisfaction or other motive, in a less disturbed and traumatic way for both parts. / Cada vez mais, o desenvolvimento de redes de cooperação interorganizacional é exaltado como alternativa de crescimento. Sua importância é fortemente visível no que diz respeito às empresas de pequeno e médio porte, que, devido à grande competitividade existente, não conseguem agir isoladamente, e tornam-se dominadas pelo mercado. O fato é que as redes somente conseguem grandes vantagens se várias condições forem preenchidas, o que torna o processo um pouco mais complexo. De qualquer maneira, a maioria dos estudos, com algumas ressalvas, afirmam ser esta uma excelente oportunidade de permanência, e, até mesmo, de crescimento no mercado onde as empresas estão inseridas, mesmo que, do ponto de vista empírico, observe-se um número expressivo de empresas que saem do processo cooperativo. Descobrir os motivos que levam à decisão da empresa de sair da rede, além de ser o objetivo deste estudo exploratório, de caráter basicamente qualitativo, pode ser uma alternativa de minimizar os problemas que surgem no decorrer do processo associativo e impossibilitam o alcance dos objetivos estipulados. Para tanto, foram entrevistadas: 1) cinco empresas do ramo de farmácias, que sairam de uma rede específica; 2) a rede propriamente dita e; 3) um novo formato de rede interorganizacional para a qual a maioria das empresas migrou, todas localizadas no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir dessas entrevistas, pôdese comparar e confrontar diferentes situações e percepções, de empresas e de redes, chegando a análises pertinentes a respeito dos problemas das redes, do perfil das empresas associadas, do processo seletivo praticado no movimento associativista e das razões que levam as empresas a saírem das redes. Em resposta à problemática deste estudo, os resultados evidenciaram algumas variáveis, a citar: tamanho das empresas participantes, assimetria de informações, relações de desconfiança, processo de gestão desenvolvido pelas redes, e a relação custo benefício resultante desse movimento. Outra conclusão resultante deste estudo, evidencia o formato das redes pesquisadas e constata que sua sobrevivência está relacionada a características de gestão muitas vezes questionadas pelas empresas associadas: regras rígidas e quota mínima de compra por associado, o que vem a garantir o poder de barganha que tantas empresas buscam no processo associativista. Todas essas variáveis, segundo constatações dessas análises, influenciam nas decisões das empresas de permanecer ou não na rede, e podem auxiliar as redes que buscam o sucesso em suas cooperações. Dessa forma, o diagnóstico das razões que levam uma empresa a sair da rede a que pertencia contribui em todas as etapas que constituem o desenvolvimento das redes, o que envolve, desde a criação de seu estatuto, formalização de seus contratos e seleção de seus associados, chegando até mesmo na possibilidade de se efetuar a retirada de alguma empresa, por insatisfação ou outro motivo, de maneira menos conturbada e traumática para ambas as partes.