PHD, Kent State University, 2014, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The overarching purpose of this study was to explore how special education administrators experience spirituality in their work. Specifically, it sought to understand the meaning they make of their work, how they lead and support others, and how they cope with the demands they face. Eight special education administrators participated in this descriptive qualitative study. Data were gathered via written personal narratives, semi-structured interviews, and participant journals. Analysis of the data was conducted through a recursive coding and content analysis process. A researcher reflective journal and group member check were also utilized to facilitate interpretation and trustworthiness. The findings formed several themes, with the Ultimate at the center and service to students with disabilities as the essential motivator for the special education administrators' work. Appreciation of the grace of the Ultimate in success and reliance upon the support of the Ultimate during struggles was another key theme. Additionally, paradoxical pairings emerged: (a) productive thought processes/ feeling inadequate, (b) enacting core values/working within restrictions, (c) fulfilling collaboration/frustration with others, (d) resilience to/being overwhelmed by change, and (e) work integrated into life/work pushing life out of balance. Deeper analysis suggested three significant influences on the participants' experience, including (a) inherited factors, (b) environmental factors, and (c) choice factors. The swirl of special education administrators' spiritual leadership depicts the integrated themes revealed through this study. Vitally, the participants choose to cultivate a sense of the Ultimate throughout all aspects of their work life. The autonomy inherent in their ability to choose, especially, supports the conclusion that there is hope for improved outcomes for students with disabilities. Recommendations are provided for prospective (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, EDU Policy and Leadership

Since the establishment of the Refugee Act of 1980, nearly 3 million individuals have re-located to the United States under refugee status, with school-aged children comprising approximately 35-40% of the overall annual influx of new refugees. As newcomers to the United States, refugees are not able to vote and have limited avenues of political representation in policy-making venues. As schools and their governance structures are the vanguard of democracy in the United States, a critical question emerges with respect to refugee children's educational interests: who advocates for the educational needs of refugee children when refugee parents are precluded from doing so through formal governance structures? This study explored answers to this question by engaging ethnographic methodology to illuminate the ways in which Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and their volunteers who partner with local schools may function as liaisons of refugee interests, representing refugee children's educational needs to school leaders as they coordinate services for refugee children.

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2013, College of Education

This study explored a triangular relationship among teachers, students, and administrators at an English as Second Language (ESL) learning center in a mid-sized, private, non-profit university in the Midwest in the United States. Through the use of critical theory, this study simultaneously gave the three groups of stakeholders voices, interwove their comments, and emerged a system thinking: a whole picture of an ESL learning center. The result from this study revealed administrators' pressure, five teachers' frustration, and nine students' learning agonies. In terms of the findings, this study grounded a leadership theory of an ESL learning center management.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Leadership Studies

Increasing qualitative evidence in the literature supports specific characteristics and practices, presented from a distributed leadership perspective, to be prevalent in school districts that demonstrate significant increases in student achievement. Quantitative evidence linking these identified district-level characteristics and practices to increased student achievement, however, is lacking. Lack of quantitative evidence appears due to want of an acceptable, psychometrically sound instrument. The purpose of this study was to create an instrument, the District Leadership for Effective Schools Scales (DLESS), to address this void. The DLESS is a measure of district-level characteristics and practices identified to improve instruction and increase student achievement. The activities suggested by Wolfe and Smith (2007a, 2007b) to facilitate the documentation of evidence relating to the development and validation of measures using Rasch modeling served as the outline for the DLESS's development. The Ohio's Leadership Developmental Framework served as the conceptual framework, serving as progenitor of the DLESS's test specifications. For the validation study, the DLESS was completed by 277 superintendents of traditional K-12 public schools in Ohio. The sample demonstrated excellent representation of school districts in Ohio. Qualtrics on-line survey software was used to recruit participants, distribute the DLESS, and collect responses. Responses were analyzed using the Rasch measurement procedures contained in WINSTEPS Version 3.73. Linacre's guidelines for optimizing rating scale effectiveness were used to direct the analyses. Pearson correlations of the DLESS measure with a measure of district-level student achievement were calculated using SPSS. Results indicate the DLESS adequately meets the Rasch specifications and is a well functioning scale with adequately functioning rating scale categories. Separation indices for persons and items indicate an excellent degre (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Although women account for most educators in the United States, they are still the minority in educational leadership roles. In rural districts, particularly high schools, the number of women in leadership is even lower than in suburban and urban districts. Thus, this study explores the barriers women face in obtaining their roles as high school principals in rural districts and discusses the challenges women face while serving in these roles. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used in this qualitative phenomenological study to explore the lived experiences of 11 current principals working in rural high schools in Ohio. The current investigation focused on researching how participants perceived the barriers they faced and the role their gender played in both the creation of barriers and their options for overcoming these challenges. The gathered data indicate that despite gains women have made in educational leadership, gender-based barriers and challenges are still in existence for women pursuing a leadership position and for women currently serving in leadership roles, particularly in rural high schools. The results of this study suggest that while subtractive leadership deters women from entering the field and pressures those currently working as principals to leave, there is hope as more women enter the profession and actively encourage and support other women considering educational leadership as the next step in their careers.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted longstanding issues in student achievement in the United States, with only 37% of students from grades 4-12 showing proficiency in math and reading, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The East Coast Charter Authorizer (ECCA), which oversees one of the largest and most diverse public-school systems, has taken on the responsibility to address these systemic issues. While there are initiatives to diversify the teaching workforce, and an intensive focus on evaluating schools, there is a critical gap in ensuring school leadership is representative of the student population and has the environment necessary to be successful in their roles as school leaders, and in implementing the kind of creative change needed to address systemic inequities. This study focuses on the experiences of Black Women School Administrators (BWSAs) and the necessary organizational conditions to improve their retention and effectiveness. This study employed a convergent social justice mixed methods research design to address the inequity in the experiences and presence of Black Women Principals in K- 12 schools. Quantitative data from a Qualtrics survey (N=12) and qualitative data from interviews (N=10) were collected concurrently to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research problem. The integration of both data types, as well as available research - known as triangulation, allowed for a robust analysis of the impact of perceived 4 experiences with the ECCA on Black Women Principals. Ensuring participant confidentiality and honoring their wishes to contribute comfortably were paramount and as such, prioritized throughout the study. The findings underscore the need for the ECCA to provide more tailored support to Black women leaders, addressing specific challenges unique to their experiences and fostering a more equitable educational environment. The study resulted in an equity-oriented (open full item for complete abstract)

Ed.D., Antioch University, 2024, Education

Beginning at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education experienced a sea change in reduced enrollment, altered course delivery models, and increased need for student support. While observing staff's actual impact on the student experience during this time, this study will address the question, “How do professional staff in small private universities a) perceive their contributions to the retention of students and b) perceive their overall value to the institutions they serve?” Owing to gaps in research on professional staff experiences, the literature review synthesizes current trends related to enrollment, retention, and persistence, focusing on small, private, non-profit 4-year institutions; discusses the disparate impact of these trends; examines the context of academic staffing trends; reviews the experiences of professional staff, focusing on critical connections between student and institution, student learning within liminal spaces, gender, and relational practice; and, examining social justice leadership in postsecondary education staffing. This qualitative study employs a constructivist grounded theory method using an initial anonymous questionnaire and interviews with volunteers for a deeper exploration of themes. The pool of nine interview participants comprises mid-level professional staff with at least three years of experience in student-supporting roles from five private universities with under 5,000 students. Potential implications relate to improving student retention practices and eliminating barriers by rethinking staff structures, resource allocation, and investment in student support areas. Further implications are related to staff role satisfaction, socially just models for professional development, and training of the next generation of professional staff. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2024, Educational Administration (Education)

This study seeks to investigate and illuminate what Superintendents perceive to be their democratic ethos and how they maintain their orientation in the context of school board interactions and/or relationships. A democratic ethos is seen by this study as the intrapersonal convictions needed to enable Superintendents to continually drive forward with their practices, even when policy, school-boards, and the community seem to falter. The schoolboard-Superintendent relationship represents a microcosm of American society and overarching democratic values. The research is concerned with the relational synthesis of two concepts by Superintendents as a mechanism for sustaining a system of governance and ensuring the longitudinal growth and progress of the educational systems they work in. Approached as a multiple-case analyses, this study presents the narratives of a group of 10 Superintendents who self-identify democratically. This research sees the concepts of political literacy and social democracy as intertwined. The study has implications for informing the leadership of practicing Superintendents as well as leadership preparation programs, both for K-12 settings as well as post-secondary institutions and can extend to inform the practice of any individual who is charged with organizational leadership throughout the course of their daily demands.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2023, Educational Administration (Education)

This study explored the Deming System of Profound Knowledge as a method of leadership and management in K-8 education. The study focused on the process of acquiring and understanding Deming's teachings as they related to the principalship and educational leadership. Using autoethnography as methodology, I leverage personal qualitative data and related educational leadership literature to present my personal journey of becoming an educational leader who practices Deming's System of Profound Knowledge as their primary method for leading and managing a school. Upon reflection and analysis, I found W. Edwards Deming's System of Profound Knowledge practical and valuable as a leadership method in today's schools. Though the mastery of Deming's teachings was a long, complex process, it greatly improved my leadership practice. The findings highlight essential knowledge and skills required to understand and practice the System of Profound Knowledge. It connects educational leadership and Deming's method and recommends further research.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2022, Educational Administration (Education)

Challenging student behavior is a concern for teachers and administrators across the United States, and the situation in West Virginia is no different. In response to these behaviors, principals often use an exclusionary approach to discipline, including detentions, suspensions, and expulsions. While research indicates a functional approach to discipline is a highly effective strategy, teachers rarely utilize this approach, and little is known about if and when principals do. This qualitative study explored how principals define challenging behavior and make discipline decisions, identify which discipline practices they use, and determine if they apply the Circumstances View of Behavior (attributing a person's behavior to learning history and/or their environment) or a functional approach to discipline (considering why a behavior is happening) when making decision-related decisions. This was accomplished using discipline vignettes, semi-structured interviews, post-interview surveys, and document analysis within a Reflexive Thematic Analysis framework with a Multimethod Research design. This study synthesized a more comprehensive definition of challenging behavior for the participants and outlined traditional disciplinary practices along with an alternate approach expressed by one participant. The findings indicate that nearly all participants only partially subscribe to a Circumstances View of Challenging Behavior and a Functional View of Behavior and that partial subscription was not enough to shift their disciplinary decision-making away from progressive, exclusionary practices.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Leadership Studies

Lean Six Sigma (LSS), which is a strategy that effectively solve problems in the manufacturing and services sectors, is claimed to be a vital strategy that could improve business, solve problems, and upgrade the quality level for education setting. Antony (2014) argues that “higher education institutes (HEI) can deploy both Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to improve their business processes” (p. 258). This dissertation explores educational leaders' and teachers' perspectives on deploying LSS in higher education. The qualitative data was collected from interviews and university documents: archival records, staff handbook, website, and annual reports. The finding indicated that: educational leaders and teachers believe the culture and leadership structure at Higher Education at the University of Ohio (UO) is very different from the culture and leadership structure that are needed for LSS implementation. The HE culture needs to move from culture of individuality to a LSS teamwork structure. Furthermore, the changes have to be negotiated with faculties before any approval; this is very different from LSS leadership structure of making changes. Besides, leadership in HE from the participants point of view focused on items more than people development unlike LSS leadership. Moreover, the top leaders at UO are not the one who initiated the current LSS projects and workshops, the process is more like bottom up. The UO top leaders are supportive to new change initiatives, and they allow the LSS leaders and faculty to practice LSS, however, the LSS faculty and leaders agree that there is no clear discussion about embracing LSS system. The top leaders did not communicate a vision of LSS system even though they support all LSS projects initiatives. These leaders and faculty said the UO is not ready for LSS implementation because of several reasons one of these is lack resources such as LSS training that set for Higher Education.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2021, Educational Administration (Education)

The aim of this dissertation is to examine spiritual leadership theory and how spiritual leadership influences the top educational leaders in Appalachian Ohio. While spiritual leadership is a growing field of study, more study is needed to examine its influence on practitioners generally and specifically in Appalachia. What role does personal spirituality play in resilience, ethics, and the treatment of others? This study shows that local school superintendents in Appalachian Ohio largely view themselves as spiritual people. Further, it reveals that their spirituality influences many facets of their work. It also shows that a large percentage of these leaders feel called to their profession, including feeling called specifically to Appalachia. The significance of this study is that it informs our theoretical understanding of spiritual leadership and its practical impacts on the top educational leaders of the region.

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Childhood trauma has a profound effect on students' academic, behavioral and social-emotional growth and development, negatively affecting their success in school and adulthood. Students who have had a traumatic past may have extreme difficulties functioning in the school setting, culminating in disciplinary reactions that include office referrals, detentions, suspensions, and in many cases expulsion. With over 50% of children reporting being exposed to traumatic events and its effects, educators need to be more sensitive in how they handle these situations and deal with these students. Strategies and interventions need to be implemented at schools to help students overcome the effects of trauma. Much of the research has been on defining trauma, trauma effects, and trauma informed care. There is a gap in the literature that examines educational leaders' capacity for trauma-informed care and their ability to implement effective practices. This study provides the foundation for future research on administrators' attitudes toward the trauma-informed care model and the impact it has on their readiness to implement intervention strategies such as restorative practices. The researcher used the Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care (ARTIC-45) scale and five qualitative questions to survey principals in the first ring districts of northeast, Ohio to determine their level of trauma informed care and perceptions of restorative practices. Overall, administrators had favorable attitudes about trauma-informed care. The findings reveal racial factors that impact Black students and Black administrators. The findings also reveal the need for system-wide supports, collaboration, resources, training, and personal support for the implementation of restorative practices. Best practices for implementation of restorative practices are included in this study.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2021, Educational Leadership

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) passed in 2002 was the "most extraordinary expansion of federal power over public schools in American history" (Sunderman & Orfield, 2006). NCLB had two major impacts on educational policy. First, it legitimized and strengthened the federal government's role in both influencing and regulating state and local compliance with educational policy mandates. Second, it codified student performance on content-specific standardized tests as the most reliable and valid measure of how well those who lead and teach in public schools are preparing students for the workforce (Bracey, 2009; Pinar, 2012; Schneider, 2017; Sunderman & Orfield, 2006). Without much public debate, and no longer questioned, performance metrics reduce the purpose of schooling to raising test scores and preparing students for the workforce (Eisner, 2001; Pinar, 2012; McDermott, 2011; Schneider, 2017). NCLB also set in motion market-based reforms expanding school choice options which threaten the very sustainability of public education (Bracey, 2009; Manna, 2007; Pinar 2012; Schneider, 2017). Anderson and Cohen (2018) have suggested that we are a pivotal moment where it is possible to move into a post-reform era which should be led by educators to reclaim their professional agency and the legitimacy of public schooling by decentering performance accountability as the primary driver of educational policy. This interpretivist, case study was comprised of five district superintendents from central Ohio who participate in a collaborative group called the Hart County Design Team (HCDT). The study found that participating in the HCDT collaborative facilitated the ability of the superintendents to engage in leadership practices to counter, not just resist, the impacts of performance accountability on their professional agency, the districts they lead, and the communities they serve. The HCDT functioned as an alliance that created a space where the group could discuss shared va (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Leadership Studies

School leadership matters. Specifically, principals play a major role in the success of their schools (Bartoletti and Connelly, 2013). Research indicated that after quality of instruction the most important variable for student achievement was the effectiveness of the school principal (Wallace Foundation, 2011; Branch, Hanushek and Rivikin, 2013). Tschannen-Moran and Gareis (2004) argued that a strong sense of self-efficacy was a critical characteristic of an effective school leader. Tim Kight R Factor training offered an actionable system that could be employed by principals to improve themselves and thereby their schools. This framework uniquely combined elements of organizational culture improvement as well as improving the individual leaders behavior and decision making skills. Currently, a gap in knowledge exists regarding whether the system actually improves school leaders performance. Simply put, the system had not been empirically tested. In addition, self-efficacy researchers revealed a gap in the research and a recommendation for future study; how to educate, train and develop principals to improve their sense of self-efficacy? (Federici, 2013; Federici and Skaalvik, 2011; Federici and Skaalvik, 2012; Tschannen-Moran and Gareis, 2005; Osterman and Sullivan, 1996; Licklider and Niska, 1993; Versland and Erickson, 2017; Hallinger, Hosseingholizadeh, Hashemi and Kouhsari, 2018) Therefore, this study adds to the developing literature. The purpose of this quasi-experimental retrospective study was to examine principals perceptions in regards to the impact R Factor training had on their sense of efficacy in their professional responsibilities as measured by the PSE Scale (Tschannen-Moran and Gareis, 2004). The target population included all principals in the state of Ohio trained in R Factor spread across over 60 school districts. Principals (n = 104) completed the Principal response to R Factor Training Survey (PRRFTS). The PRRFTS contains 28 close-form items, (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Leadership Studies

No country can afford mass access and high quality-it will never happen (Altbatch, 2012). Massification has characterized global higher education since the mid-1940s starting in the United States, spreading to Europe and East Asia in the 20th Century, before expanding to Sub-Sahara Africa. Various scholars have linked massification, and the transformation of higher education to the dilution of quality university education, leading to Juakalization. The term Juakalization is a metaphor derived from the word `Jua kali' is used in this study to denote low-quality education standards witnessed in universities, by relating institutions of higher education in Kenya with the country's informal, economic artisan sector known as Jua Kali. The expansion of higher education in Kenya after the year 2010, resulted in confusion, frustration, lack of employee loyalty, and clashes in corporate culture, posing leadership challenges. This mixed methods, sequential, and explanatory study, sought to gain new insights into leadership behavior at seven public universities operating in Kenya before 2010. The research explored the relationship between leaders self-perception and the perception of their followers with regard to leadership effectiveness in managing the performance of universities during the Juakalization phenomenon. The findings indicated that university vice-chancellors frequently utilized effective leadership practices and that their followers were aware of effective leadership behavior. However, all indications point to the dilution of quality higher education. Three conclusions arise from the study findings: first, leaders and followers must produce change; second, the desired change ought to be transformational; and third, the leader follower relationship must produce quality products, because leading is about practice and transformation.

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

BENINCASA, NANCY BROUGHER, PH.D., AUGUST 2020 FOUNDATIONS, LEADERSHIP, AND ADMINISTRATION ASCENSION TO THE SUPERINTENDENCY: HOW FEMALE ADMINISTRATORS PERCEIVE THE ATTAINABILITY AND DESIRABILITY OF THE ROLE (214 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Rosemary Gornik, Ph.D. Currently, 24% of national school superintendents are female (American School Decennial Study, 2010) within an overwhelmingly predominant female workforce. In the state of Ohio, that further decreases to less than 17%. The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was to more fully understand why the number of female superintendents may be lacking from the lens of female administrators in the pipeline for the position. Primarily, this study attempted to understand whether female administrators, technically qualified for the role, thought the position to be attainable and/or desirable. Along the way, the study participants discussed many issues associated with the culture of educational leadership and females in leadership positions as well as perceived impediments female leaders face. The study consisted of seven participants. Each participant served in a position in the career pathway to the superintendency as defined by Brunner and Kim (2010). Data consisted of two separate rounds of interviews from the seven participants and collected documents from five participants. Forty eight individual patterns emerged from the data collection which resulted in six major research themes. Participants identified several impediments to the attainability of the superintendent position for female administrators. Additionally, the participants discussed their personal navigation of many of these obstacles. Participants varied in their perceptions of the desirability of the role. Some desired to break barriers and serve in the position; others had serious reservations about the application process, selection process and, in some cases, the role itself.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership Studies, Xavier University, 2020, Leadership Studies and Human Resource Development

This exploratory case study identified administrative competencies that multiple stakeholders perceive to be important for fostering an inclusive and accessible learning environment for students with disabilities in a small, suburban school district located in Southwest Ohio. It consists of a comparative assessment of stakeholder perceptions of core administrative competencies including both knowledge and skills for leaders of special education programs as defined by the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC's) standards. To investigate Research Question 1, this study utilized a survey to gauge the importance of each standard to multiple stakeholders in the educational process. Research Question 2 was investigated through open-ended survey questions asking stakeholders to provide additional competencies that they feel need to include the CEC standards in order to develop a more comprehensive list of inclusive leadership. Notably, data gleaned from quantitative analysis found that the administrators group marked higher priority than special education teachers and parents on the two competencies pertaining to 1) ongoing evaluations of Special Education programs (SPED) and personnel, and 2) data driven decision making regarding SPED programs and services. Further, overall school administrators tended to mark high priority on the multiple sets of survey items related to the skills compared with the other stakeholder groups. The findings for Research Question 1 suggest that future research should revolve around developing ways to assess SPED programs, services, and staff as well as reliable, consistent data sources to base these and other decisions pertaining to SPED programs upon. Another possible avenue of inquiry would be to seek to understand special education teachers varying perspectives regarding the priority they place on the individual CEC standards. Data regarding Research Question 2 yielded novel practices; knowledge items that emerged from the research incl (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2019, Educational Leadership

Research reveals that there is often a major disconnect between leaders and workers in organizational settings, especially when it comes to decision-making. Consequently, organizational decisions are often misunderstood by the employees who must implement top-down directives, which can lead to growing distrust, frustration, and needless resistance toward change initiatives. This kind of disconnect, resulting confusion, and resistance is also found in schools between principals and teachers. Having worked as a teacher and then as an administrator in three separate school districts, I have become overwhelmed by the bureaucratic nature of school committees. In my experience, school committees tend to be exclusive, administrator-driven, and lack authentic, rich discussion. This study seeks to narrow the focus of research on school committees by exploring how teachers experience the decision-making process for change initiatives in a school committee setting when inclusive deliberation (ID) is used as a framework for school committee design. Also, the study explores the impact of school committee design and operation on teacher resistance and feelings of morale. The methodology of this study is a single instrument, action research case study, expressed in a narrative. The case exists at the high school where I work as an assistant principal. During the second semester of the 2018-2019 school year, a committee known as the Building Leadership Team (BLT) altered its design and operation, using the framework of inclusive deliberation (ID). Teachers' experience with the BLT, along with other phenomena that took place during the case study with additional members of the staff, were collected as data. Data was collected through observational field notes, journaling of daily interactions, participant reflection prompts, staff surveys, a focus group reflection, and individual interviews. Inductive analysis was used to triangulate the data to understand the phenomena being resear (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2019, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

This study examined Ohio public school principal perceptions of students with disabilities and leadership practices. Q methodology provided insight into how mindset orientations manifest in leadership and decision-making in the face of accountability for improved outcomes for students with disabilities. Despite general orientation toward a growth-mindset, analysis of Q-sorts completed by 20 public school principals resulted in three factor groups. Shared viewpoints emerged representative of Empowering, Constrained, or Pragmatic leadership practices. Empowering Principals reflected a high sense of efficacy in the ability of staff and students to learn and develop, collaborative problem-solving, shared leadership decision-making, and minimized the existence of staff resistance or operational barriers. Constrained Principals highlighted the difficulties of operational barriers, staff resistance, and difficulties in differentiating to meet student needs. Constrained perspective expressed frustration, limited ability to meet expectations and less collaborative planning for student learning. The final group discussed the struggle of the school experience for students with disabilities. Pragmatic Principals prioritized dealing with day to day emergencies, attendance and discipline issues and expressed limited site-based input in leadership decisions. Implications support the critical role of the principal and suggest that orientation and leadership practice may be just as important, if not more so, than the skills and behaviors outlined in professional standards or acquired through experience. Empowering Principals' perspective could be leveraged to set vision, create culture and establish the collaborative leadership necessary to contribute to narrowing the gap that has existed between students with disabilities and nondisabled peers despite legal and accountability mandates.