Beyond "Hang in There": How Inclusive Principals Support Beginning Special Education Teachers

• In Event: 77.018 - The Role of Leadership in Supporting Teachers and Improving Climate

Abstract

Understanding how managing and leading in increasingly complex school structures and service delivery models (e.g., Response to Intervention) is important to shaping leadership preparation and the evolving roles of teachers and leaders. Through interviews with ten principals identified as effective in supporting novice special educators in two states, we gained insights into how principals viewed their role in: (a) managing and supervising the building and personnel, (b) promoting an inclusive school climate, (c) providing instructional leadership, and (d) extending and contextualizing support for beginning teachers in concert with district-level induction and mentoring programs and informal networks in other schools.

Descriptors: leadership for inclusion, teacher induction, special education

Authors

• Erica D. McCray, University of Florida

• Maya Israel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Margaret L. Kamman, University of Florida

• Emily Crews, University of Florida

• Alexandria Harvey, University of Florida