Education Administration In General Research Articles

Administrator Perspectives on Teacher Leadership for Teaching Students with Extensive Support Needs Across Settings

ABSTRACT While often understated, the role of teachers of students with extensive support needs (ESN) requires many activities associated with the concept of teacher leadership. Administrators play a key role in supporting teachers as they perform these essential leadership-oriented activities. In this study, researchers surveyed the engagement and perspectives of administrators in general and special education settings on six teacher leader competencies (TLCs) related to teaching students with ESN. Overall, special and general education administrators reported high confidence in their own ability to supervise teachers in the TLCs as well as in their teachers’ ability to implement four of the six TLCs. While no significant differences were found between the two administrator groups, some differences were noted between the type of professional development received and the levels of expectation for the following TLCs: implementing inclusive practices, supervising paraprofessionals, and adapting and developing individualized curricula. Given that administrator support has an important impact on teacher job satisfaction and retention, this study provides discussion regarding the findings and potential implications for the field.

Utilizing Mini-Grants to Meaningfully Engage Instructors in General Education Assessment

Meaningfully engaging faculty in assessment presents a continual challenge for general education administrators. Faculty perceptions of assessment—including that assessment serves no purpose other than “checking a box” for accreditation and that it conveys little benefit to the instructor—often hinder instructor engagement. A low-cost assessment mini-grant program can overcome these misperceptions, increasing faculty engagement with both the assessment process and the general education program. In this article, a general education administrator describes the structure, delivery, and results of an assessment mini-grant program, and three faculty members share how their participation in the program shaped their teaching and improved their perceptions of—and engagement with—general education assessment.

Colorado Special Education Administrative Competencies

There is great variation in the competencies required by states that certify individuals as special education administrators. Approximately one-half of all states require separate certification competencies for special education administrators as compared to general education administrators. Special education directors in the state of Colorado, a state that requires separate certification, were asked to rank 16 competency statements that comprise the state-approved endorsement program for special education directors. The results were analyzed in terms of agency type, size, and population density. Implications are discussed for the various significant differences identified.

Occupational stress in special education: a challenge for school health professionals.

Results of this study support the hypothesis that the majority of special educators, their support personnel, and general education administrators do not experience more job dissatisfaction than comparable occupational groups. However, they do report lower levels of subjective well-being when compared with normal populations. Furthermore, 18% of the educators in the study perceived themselves as failing to cope with their job, experienced more frequent symptoms of poor physical health, and reported significantly poorer subjective well-being. Health promotion programs for public school personnel should initiate prevention-oriented health education programs for all employees. For those identified as more vulnerable to stress-related mental and physical health problems, therapeutic approaches may be necessary. However, self-help and mutual support groups may offer both groups a social support system to help meet human needs in addition to offering the potential for reducing perceived occupational stress. School health personnel may be in the best position to influence policies, procedures, and practices in schools that would support the work-related needs of all employees.

A policy study of P. L. 94-142.

The study sought to determine the “level of consciousness” of selected regular and special educators for 50 competing educational policy statements. Fifty of the most frequently occurring policy items were selected, 20 arising as key concepts of the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94–142), intermingled with 30 of the most pressing issues drawn from the current regular (general) and vocational education literature. A Q-sort procedure required 199 general and special education teachers and administrators to prioritize the general and special education policy items, sorting them according to their importance. A discriminant functions analysis disclosed that respondents could be correctly classified as special or regular educators with 68% accuracy (cross-validated) on the basis of their level of consciousness for 11 P.L. 94–142 policy items. Special education administrators demonstrated the highest level of consciousness, general education administrators the lowest, and teachers the middle range.