The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) developed this guide in collaboration with education partners to help states establish a vision for effective, inclusive principal leadership and advance that vision statewide to improve outcomes for the success of each child, including those with disabilities.
This online guide builds on two fundamental documents produced by CCSSO and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center: the 2015 Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) and PSEL 2015 and Promoting Principal Leadership for the Success of Students with Disabilities. This guidance can support states in strengthening principals’ capacity to lead inclusive schools in which each student has an equitable opportunity to succeed. This microsite would not have been possible without generous support from the U.S. Department of Education, through CCSSO’s partnership with CEEDAR, and the Oak Foundation.
To develop this guide, CCSSO convened the National Collaborative on Inclusive Principal Leadership (NCIPL), a diverse alliance that includes the following principal associations, member organizations, technical assistance centers, researchers, educator preparation programs, and nonprofits:
- American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education
- CAST (formerly known as the Center for Applied Special Technology)
- Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, American Institutes for Research
- The CHIME Institute
- Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center
- Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation
- Council of Administrators of Special Education
- Council of Chief State School Officers
- Georgia State University
- International Council of Professors of Educational Leadership
- Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education
- National Association of Elementary School Principals
- National Association of Secondary School Principals
- National Association of State Directors of Special Education
- National Center on Improving Literacy
- National Center for Learning Disabilities
- National Center for Systemic Improvement, WestEd
- National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools
- National Implementation Research Network
- National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
- New Leaders
- New Teacher Center
- Relay Graduate School of Education
- Shippensburg University
- SPAN Parent Advocacy Network
- Time, Instructional Effectiveness, Engagement, and State Support (TIES) Center
- University Council for Educational Administration
CCSSO and the NCIPL worked together to identify strategies states can take to advance effective inclusive principal leadership and to provide a more coordinated and aligned approach to support their efforts to do so. For each strategy, the guide also provides useful resources. While this guidance is primarily intended for state education agencies, it can be used by principal preparation programs, professors of educational leadership, districts, and principals as well.
Please visit this guide often, as we will continue to update it. We are confident that by working together to support states, we can maximize our collective impact to better serve each student.