Practicing Special Education Administrators' Perceived Confidence Levels within Key Practice Areas

Overview & Synopsis

Special education leadership is a rewarding, dynamic, and complex field; and for those individuals who choose to lead special education programs, the field can also be extremely challenging. Effective special education leadership demands a multi-faceted approach guided by professional standards to meet the challenges of educating students with disabilities in accordance with federal and state regulations. The purpose of this study was to gain perspective into the confidence levels of special education leaders specific to their assigned roles and their daily practice. Determining consequential connections between their specific confidence levels and essential field-centric standards could yield useful insight for the future design and delivery of both pre-service special education leader development programs and continuing education programs developed for current special education leaders. The following research questions guided this study: 1. What is the average perceived self-efficacy/confidence level of special education administrators relative to the Council for Exceptional Children's special education professional leadership standards? 2. What is the average perceived self-efficacy/confidence level of special education administrators relative to individual items within each of the Council for Exceptional Children's special education professional leadership standards? 3. To what extent is there a significant relationship between a special education administrator's years of experience and perceived efficacy to perform the specific skills reflected in the Council for Exceptional Children's special education leadership standards? [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]