The Principal’s Handbook for Leading Inclusive Schools

by Julie Causton, Ph.D. Syracuse University and George Theoharis, Ph.D. Syracuse University

About the Authors

Julie Causton, Ph.D., is an expert in creating and maintaining inclusive schools. She is Associate Professor in the Inclusive and Special Education Program, Department of Teaching and Leadership, Syracuse University. She teaches courses on inclusion, differentiation, special education law, and collaboration. Her published works have appeared in such journals as Behavioral Disorders, Equity & Excellence in Education, Exceptional Children, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Studies in Art Education, and TEACHING Exceptional Children. Julie also works with families, schools, and districts directly to help to create truly inclusive schools. She co-directs a summer leadership institute for school administrators focusing on issues of equity and inclusion as well as a school reform project called Schools of Promise. Her doctorate in special education is from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

George Theoharis, Ph.D., is Associate Dean in the School of Education and Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Inclusive Elementary Education in the Department of Teaching and Leadership, Syracuse University. He has extensive field experience in public education as a principal and as a teacher. George teaches classes in educational leadership and elementary/early childhood teacher education. His interests, research, and work with K–12 schools focus on issues of equity, justice, diversity, inclusion, leadership, and school reform. His book The School Leaders Our Children Deserve (Teachers College Press, 2009) is about school leadership, social justice, and school reform. He is co-editor of a new book What Every Principal Needs to Know to Create Excellent and Equitable Schools (Teachers College Press, 2013). George’s published works appear in such journals as Educational Administration Quarterly, Educational Leadership, Equity & Excellence in Education, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Journal of School Leadership, Journal of Special Education Leadership, Remedial and Special Education, The School Administrator, Teachers College Record, and Urban Education. He co-runs a summer leadership institute for school administrators focusing on issues of equity and inclusion as well as a school reform project called Schools of Promise. His doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis is from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

INCLUSIVE SCHOOL REFORM

Inclusive school reform has resulted in all students with disabilities being placed into general education settings (including students with significant disabilities, students with mild disabilities, students with emotional disabilities, students with autism… all students) and providing inclusive services to meet their needs while eliminating pullout or self-contained special education programs. In the following subsections, we outline a seven-part process. This process is adapted from the Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH) planning process (Pearpoint, O’Brien, & Forest, 1993). It is important that the steps in the inclusive reform process are carried out in a democratic and transparent manner. We recommend that a representative leadership team consisting of school administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, and other staff members go through this process together.

Step 1—Setting a Vision

First, the team sets a vision for the school reform initiative around three areas: 1) school structure (i.e., how we arrange adults and students), 2) meeting the needs of all in general education, and 3) school climate. Many schools have gone through this process already; we provide an example of goals that a K–8 school created during its inclusive school reform work:

Structure Goals (how we arrange adults and students)

• Students will be placed in balanced classrooms with positive role models.
• The designated person will facilitate efficient monthly communication meetings for staff to discuss various topics surrounding inclusion.

School Climate Goals

• Examine the physical structure to determine locations conducive to planning, supporting, and implementing inclusion at each grade level.
• Create a schedule that promotes consistent and common planning time for ongoing communication and dialogue.
• Develop and implement approaches and procedures that promote a professional learning community (e.g., collaboration, consensus, agree to disagree respectfully).

Meeting the Needs of All in the General Education Classroom Goals

• Have planned opportunities for vertical communication to provide continuity between grade levels.
• Provide child-centered, differentiated, research-based instruction that challenges children of all abilities, supported by targeted staff development.

Step 2—What Is Happening Now? Creating Service Delivery Maps

For the second step, we recommend that the leadership team examine the existing way special education services are provided, the way human resources are used, and other important data. This process requires school teams to map out their current service delivery and the way they use their human resources in efforts to meet the range of student needs. An essential part of creating a service map is to indicate which staff pull students from which classrooms, which students learn in self-contained spaces, which paraprofessionals are used where—a complete picture of how and where all staff at the school work.

Step 3—Align School Structures

Step 3 involves rethinking structures and the use of staff in order to create teams of professionals to serve all students inclusively—in other words, creating a new service delivery map. After creating a map of the current service delivery, the staff works to create a new inclusive service delivery plan by redeploying staff to make balanced and heterogeneous classrooms where all students are included in order to enhance inclusion and belonging.

Step 4—Rethink Staffing: Creating Instructional Teams

The fourth step in the process is to rethink the use of staff. This involves creating teams of general education teachers, specialists (e.g., special education teachers, teachers for English language learners [ELLs], others), and paraprofessionals to serve all students inclusively. An essential component of this step is placing students into classrooms using the school’s natural proportions of students with special education needs or other needs (like ELLs) as a guide.

Step 5—Improving Classroom Practices

For the fifth step, it is important to change the daily classroom practices that the newly created teaching teams will use. This involves creating and carrying out a professional development plan for teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators. We recommend that schools consider such topics as collaboration, co-teaching, differentiated instruction, working with challenging behavior, inquiry-based instruction, ELL methods, and literacy.

Step 6—Ongoing Monitoring, Adjusting, and Celebrating

The sixth component of the inclusive reform process is to monitor and adjust the plan, getting feedback from all staff, students, and families, but without abandoning the plan at the first moment of struggle or resistance.

Step 7—Ongoing: Create a Climate of Belonging

An ongoing part of inclusive reform needs to be creating a climate of belonging. A component of this necessitates involving all staff in the planning and implementation of the inclusive reform. It is important to note that the research and our experience with this process suggest that all seven aspects are needed. We recommend that implementation of reformed inclusive service delivery happens between Steps 4 and 5.

IMPLICATIONS FOR DISTRICTS

The steps described in the preceding section detail how to create inclusive schooling at the school level; however, many district administrators inquire about how to create an entirely inclusive district. Some district administrators engage in the seven-step inclusive school reform process on a school-by-school basis. Others undertake a large-scale approach.