The Future of Education

       Leading a school and culture transformation is a daunting task for many administrators when advocacy focuses on inclusive reform. Leaders must ascertain that an inclusive environment is not a place, a classroom, nor a resource setting; it is a mindset of acceptance nurtured by meaningful learning opportunities where all students thrive. This phenomenological study investigated principals’ actions and behaviors that fostered inclusive schooling for students with disabilities. The following research question was answered: How do leaders develop and maintain inclusive education? Fourteen K-12 principals purposefully selected from various sources were interviewed individually using a semi-structured protocol. Upon completion of data collection, interviews were transcribed and marked using A priori coding to analyze the responses and establish correlation among Villa and Thousand’s five organizational supports to achieve inclusive educational reform: Vision, Skills, Incentives, Resources, and an Action Plan. The findings reveal the insights of principals who met specific criteria and whose schools had been highlighted as exemplary inclusive schools.Results show that by implementing these organizational supports, principals developed and sustained successful inclusive environments where teachers and students were supported through redefinition and restructuring of school systems. The five variables for change depict essential components within these systems which include quality professional development, coaching and modeling of co-teaching strategies, collaborative co-planning, teacher leadership, and continuous stakeholder (e.g., teachers, students, support staff, and parents) involvement. School leaders, along with their teaching and school community, must promote the vision of inclusion, plan a structured approach, and act to make it a reality. It is the administrator’s responsibility to create buy-in in their staff with data that shows inclusive education yields valuable benefits for students with disabilities and their typically developing peers.

Keywords: Inclusive education, principals, shared-decision making, shared leadership, special education