Principal Leadership in Support of Student with Disabilities

NCPEA adopted the new Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 2015 (PSEL 2015). PSEL 2015 and Promoting Principal Leadership for the Success of Students with Disabilities is intended primarily for chief state school officers and their state education agency (SEA) staff.  Its ultimate goal is to provide SEAs with actionable steps to promote practices and cultivates competencies for effective principle leadership where each child has an equitable opportunity to succeed with a particular focus on students with disabilities.  

 STANDARD 1.  MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Work collaboratively to develop a mission and vision for their school that supports the success of all students, including students with disabilities. 
• Include parents and other external stakeholders in the visioning process and consistently engage them as partners in this work. 

STANDARD 2.  ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL NORMS

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Adhere to ethical and professional norms and uphold the moral imperative to acknowledge inequities and promote equality. 
• Lead with interpersonal and social-emotional competence, and develop productive relationships by communicating effectively, cultivating interpersonal awareness, and building trust.

STANDARD 3.  EQUITY AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Ensure the academic success and well-being of each student, including students with disabilities, through equitable access to effective teachers, culturally responsive learning opportunities and supports, and necessary resources. 
• Recognize, confront, and educate others about the institutional forces and historical struggles that have impeded equitable educational opportunities for students with disabilities. 

STANDARD 4.  CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Work collaboratively with classroom teachers to help them develop their capacity for effective instruction.
• Ensure evidence-based approaches to instruction and assessment are implemented with integrity adn are adapted to local needs. 

STANDARD 5.  COMMUNITIES OF STUDENT CARE AND SUPPORT

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Build and maintain a safe, caring, and healthy environment that meets the needs of each student and encourages them to be active, responsible members of their community. 
• Promote inclusive social environments that foster acceptance, care, and sense of value and belonging in adult-student and student-peer relationships. 

STANDARD 6. PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL 

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Provide multiple sources of high-quality, meaningful professional learning and development opportunities, and participate alongside their staff. 
• Identify strategies to motivate their staff and encourage, recognize, and facilitate leadership opportunities for teachers and staff who effectively educate students with disabilities

STANDARD 7.  PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY  

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Encourage teachers to set high expectations for and engage in active self-assessment and reflective learning in order to promote mutual accountability.
• Manage tensions and conflict while developing conditions for productivity, including effective professional development, practice, and support to staff.   

STANDARD 8.  MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT OF FAMILIES AND COMMUNITY

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Create partnerships with families of students with disabilities and engage them purposefully and productively in the learning and development of their children in and out of school. 
• Engage families to provide insight about their children's specific disabilities that allows teachers to better understand their needs, make educationally sound instructional decisions, and assist in interpreting and assessing student progress. 

STANDARD 9.  OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Assign roles and responsibilities to optimize staff capacity to address each student's learning needs, especially students with disabilities.
• Develop and effectively manage school structures, operations, and administrative systems that support students with disabilities.   

STANDARD 10. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Key Leadership Practices for Supporting Students with Disabilities

• Provide learning opportunities for teachers and staff to equip them to participate in strategic processes of improvement of improvement, and to take part in implementing effective programs and practices for students with disabilities. 
• Ensure that the particular needs of students with disabilities are intentionally addressed within the school's broader plans for improvement.