Preparing Administrators To Serve Diverse Populations Of Students With Learning Challenges

Abstract

The notion of integrating a curriculum is more than connecting pieces so that students can see the bigger design—in effective curriculum integration models, knowledge is meaningfully related and connects in such a way that it is relevant to other areas of learning as well as to real life (Morris, 2003). This work details the integrated efforts of two university departments, The Department of Educational Leadership and Research (ELR) and The Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education (CISE), to restructure a school administrators’ preparation program to better prepare leadership candidates for meeting the challenges of student diversity relative to P-12 students with learning disabilities. This university was located in the southern region of the United States in a state with significant levels of students from diverse populations with special learning needs.  A modified action research model was used as the conceptual framework to accomplish this undertaking.