Effective Leadership Competencies of School-Based Special Education Administrators

Overview & Synopsis

In the state of Virginia, special education leadership within schools is provided by persons with supervision and administration endorsements. To obtain this endorsement in Virginia, an individual must have a master's degree from an accredited college or university, completed 3 years of full-time and successful teaching, satisfied the requirements of the School Leaders Licensure Assessment, completed an approved graduate program in administration and supervision, and completed 320 internship hours in the field. Yet, special education endorsements or training are not required for these leadership positions (Virginia Board of Education, 2011). Because of the lack of special education training needed for leadership in special education, there is a need to establish a set of universal competencies that are necessary for special education leaders to have in order to be effective at leading special education programs within schools. The purpose of this study was to determine the skill areas special education directors and School-based special education administrators (SBSEAs) perceive as essential to the leadership of special education programs at the school level. In addition, the purpose was to capture SBSEAs' level of self-reported proficiency on each competency because they were identified by a special education director as being effective in their leadership role of overseeing special education programs at the school level. Lastly, the study sought to determine predictor variables that affect self-reported proficiency levels on competencies. The 25 competencies presented in this study are essential to the effective leadership of special education programs within schools. In addition, training experiences were analyzed in relation to competencies. This study demonstrated that the leadership of special education programs can be more effective when leaders receive appropriate training experiences.