Beyond Narrow Confines: Special Education Leadership for Ethnically Diverse Urban Learners

Abstract

Urban school building administrators are aware of sociocultural dynamics that affect today's urban schools, but they seem to lack the will to make the necessary changes that could buttress programmatic stability and integrity. For some, the debate focuses on the issue of equity in the pursuit of educational excellence for all children. For others, the debate centers on the preparation of a competitive labor force or service industry as well as the socioeconomic stratification that comes with it. These debates permeate current discussions on special education leadership in urban schools. In more concrete fashion, the debates address issues tied to teacher preparation, quality of teachers, and best practices as well as equity in school finance and resource allocation. Implicitly tied to these issues are new standards and accountability methods, school safety issues, and curricula--all of which impact teachers, parents, students, taxpayers, and school leaders. In this article, the authors focus on ways to build great special education leadership for ethnically diverse urban learners.