This course explores the challenges Administrators of Special Education face in the role of instructional leadership that include aligning the curriculum, designing a school-wide comprehensive system to meet the needs of all learners, and articulating clear goals and objectives related to student achievement, instruction and assessment. Strategies for utilizing technology to support instruction will also be covered. This course will address safe, orderly and caring environments, and effective operational systems. State and federal laws will be addressed including collective bargaining agreements and ethical guidelines.

This course provides a comprehensive focus on instructional leadership in the area of aligning curriculum to the content frameworks, designing effective instruction, ensuring both formal and informal assessment methods are utilized, providing effective supervision and evaluation oversight, and determining appropriate professional development for all staff. Course content will include human resource management, and developing, implementing, and assessing district and school-wide improvement plans.

This course provides leaders with the technical and theoretical application of accountability and program evaluation so they can identify and develop systems that ensure districts have processes in place to close the student achievement gap, while understanding adult learning needs of staff and supporting a comprehensive development plan. Course content will include management and operations in the following areas: comprehensive scheduling, fiscal systems, contract negotiations, community connections that connect to the district mission system, and cultivating and leading change as a collaborative leader.

This course explores ways to create comprehensive intervention systems that meet the needs of all candidates and ways to systematically monitor, evaluate, and assess the effectiveness of district goals. Plans and procedures to address safety, health and student needs in a caring environment will be explored. Content will include understanding state and federal laws and mandates, ethical guidelines, and school committee policies. The importance of effective communication will be discussed as well as the importance of securing staff commitment to core values, the mission statement and a shared vision. Participants will explore various effective time management and scheduling techniques, reflect on personal experiences, examine current practices, and discuss student and staff accountability.

This course enables participants to self-reflect and formulate their personal vision on ways to promote equity and fairness, and closing the proficiency gap while maintaining a safe and caring environment. The course will include developing a cohesive approach to human resource management, family and community engagement, and the importance of keeping lines of communication open and transparent with parents and stakeholders in order to build a trusting team. Leaders will learn how to interact and contribute in a culturally diverse emerging environment, as well as learn the techniques to diffuse situations to avoid conflict and strategies for effectively engaging participants in conversations related to school matters.

The focus of this course is to provide leaders with the legal infrastructure to know how to use the regulations to advocate for candidates, and to solicit community support with parental involvement. Leaders must build strong relationships within the parameters of legal implications, cultural awareness, parity, litigation, court decisions, and examination of case law. Program evaluation, operational systems, and technology management systems in relation to cultural and ethical perspectives, will be explored in depth.

This course focuses leaders through case study format to challenge the foundation of what it means to be a professional as they lead in the spirit of the law through an ethical lens while ensuring a safe and caring environment for all members of the district. The course will focus on working in a culturally diverse environment with parents and families, establishing consensus with vision statements and mission values, maintaining best practices for all candidates, and teaching and modeling diversity at all levels.

This course focuses on understanding and communicating the importance of cultural proficiency and how it affects the school’s ability to bridge relationships especially with ELL candidates and families, listen to concerns, and address the multitude of challenges for school leaders. This course will explore how schools can utilize community organizations, technology, strategic and goal planning, creating policies, promoting collaboration and equity, and ensuring professional and cultural relationships to develop strong community partnerships. Being a leader in fiscal matters, management information systems, and school committee relationships will also be discussed.

The course will focus on Bureau of Special Education case analysis, decision making, and in-depth coverage of selected topics including Section 504, school refusal, Children Requiring Assistance and Civil Rights.

This course addresses how to identify a special education issue that is relevant to current practice and to use research to develop a position paper. Students will learn how to develop and write a position paper for a topic in special education and give an associated presentation. The coursework includes choosing a topic, developing an outline, writing a first draft, writing final draft, creating a presentation, and delivering it to a cohort.