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Dr. Natasha Veale, dean of the school of social sciences and education at Greensboro College, recently released her book, “How to Retain Special Education Teachers: : A Transformational Leadership Guide for School Administrators.”
Her book found that conducting needs assessments, following the Knoster Model for Managing Complex Change, and providing professional development could build the confidence of school administrators when working with special education programs. It also highlighted the importance of self-awareness among administrators and concluded that support at the local, district, and state levels can help improve the school environments.
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EdNC sat with Veale to learn more about what inspired her research. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
EdNC: What inspired your research into the relationship between special education departments and the principalship?
Veale: I was a special education teacher for nearly nine years, and I experienced at least a half of a dozen principals with varied levels of special education knowledge and acceptance. And so for the last 17 years, I’ve taught, listened to, and consoled EC (exceptional children) teachers seeking licensure. As a college professor, my focus from the beginning of my higher ed career was to strengthen and grow future EC teachers so they would develop the perseverance to stay in the classroom. I found myself helping them deal with and rationalize their feelings of a lack of administrative support that they felt as they struggled at their schools.
EdNC: Can you describe some examples of actions and inactions towards EC teachers?
Veale: Well, from my personal experience and with the teachers that I’ve taught over the years, EC teachers’ workload is extensive, and so if the teacher is in their first, second, or third year, they are learning. They are building the plane as they’re flying it. And so there’s a lot of support that they may need. The administrator who supports special education at the school — they may not understand the full picture of what that EC teacher is dealing with, and they may not offer the full support that the EC teacher needs, and that teacher may feel like they’re not important.
And so when I say actions or inactions, that could be administrators who do support special education, but the inactions could be those administrators who may not take that time to make special education the priority, or one of the priorities in the school, to where eventually that EC teacher may decide to silently leave.
EdNC: What previous research have you done related to this topic?
Veale: Not particularly a topic related to administrators because this is practically a new conversation, but my previous research was about special education teachers’ feelings about their highly qualified status in North Carolina. Years ago, during the times when there was an issue with licensure exams that caused their qualifications to be questioned. It was a time when secondary EC teachers across the state were displaced from their teaching settings, and some decided to leave special education for general education classrooms — or leave teaching altogether. So you would say that my focus has always been on special education teacher retention and its factors. Before it was about the teachers. Now it’s about the administrators.
EdNC: Please, walk us through the process of beginning your research.
Veale: I wanted to interview 12 principals, but it was not easy. My goal was to interview 12 principals across all grade levels, across the Piedmont-Triad school districts. But when I reached out to district leaders, I either did not get a response, or I was told it was not a good time. So I then widened the net to 91 school districts out of 115 in North Carolina, and I persistently sent emails every week for several weeks, and 31 districts did approve the research, and I was able to email their principals. I was thankfully able to email 411 principals in North Carolina, but after weeks of emailing, only 29 responded, so that was definitely a barrier to the process. But I did secure the 12 that I needed, and I’m grateful for that courage. Talking about issues in an area that is not routinely talked about can be hard. And it’s not always easy to admit vulnerability as a leader, but it’s critical to do so.
EdNC: As you were conducting your interviews, what were some common themes that would arise?
Veale: All the principals could describe times when they individually considered intellectually stimulated, inspired, motivated, or positively influenced by their EC teachers. That was the transformational leadership side of the questions. So that was a good thing, but the issues they revealed involved admitting to having a lack of knowledge in special ed and not truly knowing how to support their EC teachers because of it. All but one principal felt the need to build their self-efficacy, or their belief in their ability to become effective leaders of EC at their schools… They wanted to find ways to develop relationships with their EC teachers and would benefit from EC related professional development from their districts during the school year — not just about compliance, but in other areas in special ed as well. Several also mentioned that more time should be spent on special education in principal preparation programs. And then others acknowledge that they realized that EC teachers’ workloads were very overwhelming.
EdNC: Were there any notes from the principals that you interviewed that surprised you?
Veale: Yes, I didn’t originally think there was going to be anything that would surprise me, because I knew their frame of reference came from little to no background in special education, but I was open to anything. I was relieved to hear a few of them say that they wanted their EC teachers to become teacher leaders. I could only think of one or two of my personal principals who felt that way about me, as far as I know, and I rarely heard that sentiment from the EC teachers over the years in my program. So, to hear that there are principals out there who want to advance and grow their EC teachers was refreshing and invigorating. It made extending the research into a book much more worthwhile. I wanted to help them, to help their teachers.
EdNC: Can you tell us about the process of changing formatting your research findings into a book?
Veale: So after conducting interviews, I recall that a few of the principals said that before me, no one had asked them how they felt about their challenges while trying to lead their EC teachers. So I knew it was important to share my findings, to start more conversations. But I didn’t initially know how to translate it to the book.
So my study stems from the principals’ lack of special education knowledge. So as a teacher, I thought of the five W’s and the H — you know, who, what, when, where, why, and how. And so I organized the book into three parts: what, why, and how.
So I decided to dedicate the chapters to explaining their roles as administrators as they relate to special education leadership standards, what special ed teacher workloads look like, and what transformational leadership is when applied to special education. Then the part that focuses on the why is — why? Why do principals experience these challenges? That section offers full interview transcripts of what the principal said in the form of case studies that lead to tips and ways that their situations could have been alleviated. Then the last section is the how, how their identified needs can be supported to build their special ed leadership capacity. I ask reflective questions throughout the book to help them practice thinking about special education and their EC teachers beyond compliance. I couldn’t ask these questions during the interviews because of how prescribed it was, but these questions extended into deeper thoughts than what I wanted to ask as they shared their experiences. I also added a chapter dedicated to what principal prep programs can do based on what was said.
I end the book by introducing a framework I developed to continue this work in schools daily, called the transforming Special Education Leadership framework, which offers actionable and practical ways to create transformational change in EC programs.
EdNC: Overall, what do you hope that educators will take away from this information?
Veale: I hope educators will consider viewing special education from a transformational leadership lens. Doing the same things but expecting different results — this isn’t working. I hope this book can start a different set of conversations that will produce systemic change as school administrators learn more about special education. And it will keep it in the front of their minds as they advocate for their EC teachers and students with disabilities and lead them to prioritize a culture in their schools that values special education to eventually make an impact on EC teacher retention and outcomes for students with disabilities.
