Leadership Perceptions of Principals with and without Special Education Backgrounds

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions of leadership by public school principals with and without special education backgrounds. Utilizing Q-sort methodology, principals sorted 47 leadership statements. Findings indicated prior special education experience was not a predictor of subsequent leadership perceptions. Instead, two factors emerged where one was composed of younger, less educated, less experienced principals in lower-performing schools who valued instructional and transactional leadership and the other was composed of older, more educated, more experienced, and more ethnically diverse principals who worked in higher-performing schools who valued transformational-collaborative leadership. The results suggest principals with and without special education backgrounds follow a developmental path.