January 11, 2022 IAASE Blog

 Follow the Yellow Brick Road: 

Surviving your First Year as a Special Education Administrator

Are you a new special education administrator who feels like Dorothy trying to navigate your way through the school year? Your mantra has probably been….”No bus drivers, new legislation, and COVID...oh my!” You have survived your first semester of the year and are heading into the second semester and a new calendar year. Just as Dorothy reflected on her journey once she reached the Emerald City, now is a good time for you to do a self-check-in on your new role. What have you accomplished? What would you do differently next year? What questions do you have? What have you learned?

When examining your accomplishments, keep in mind both your professional and personal victories. Nothing is too small to consider….it could be just learning all of your staff’s names, roles, and something personal about each one of them. Research highlights the importance of relationships and establishing connections with those you lead. Those relationships fuel your motivation to ensure that you are meeting their needs while continuing to foster their role as a professional. For you, your accomplishment could just be being able to establish time to incorporate your personal growth into your daily routine. Carving out some “golden time” in your schedule is necessary to survive this role. Golden time means establishing at least one to two times each month where you set aside time to “...do what you need to do.” By establishing those times in advance, you can reserve them on your calendar and nothing (except a true emergency) stops you from that time. Take some time to carve out your monthly golden time between now and the end of the year. Use that time to catch up on some reading, going through that pile of “I will get to this later” stuff, write a few notes of appreciation to some of your staff, work on your professional goals, or watch that webinar that you were saving to watch when you have time. Keep that time golden!

When reflecting on what you would do differently next year, establish a means to record those thoughts. You may want to use the ISBE Director’s monthly calendar to jot a few notes. Or, create a document that you organize by topics (i.e., opening the school year, fall testing, school improvement days, etc.). In your notes, consider jotting down what you would need to implement your changes. Do you need some additional professional development? Should you set aside some additional funding either through your grants or local funds? Do you need to collaborate with another colleague? Do you need some new resources to help guide your decision-making? When you start planning for these events for next year (don’t forget to put that on your to-do list next Spring!), these notes will be helpful to you. 

In your first year, you will undoubtedly have many questions. One premise to keep in mind is that you are not expected to have all the answers! When you are approached with questions from staff, parents, and colleagues, acknowledge that you understand the questions and take time to consider what your answer should be. When you truly know the answer, share it. However, if you are unsure, give yourself time to explore that answer. Have in your toolbox some phrases that you can use to respond. For example, “That is a great question. I need some time to look into this further and I will get back to you shortly with my answer.” One of the mistakes some new administrators fall into is answering questions with what they think the answer should be and respond, only to find out later that they were wrong. Your credibility is key to your success in your role. You want to build trust with your staff, parents, and students. Therefore, modeling that it is okay to not have the answer and taking the time to explore your response will go much further with them rather than having to correct yourself multiple times. Another premise is that you should have your “rookie” status in your role for three years. The first year you should have some grace because…”you don’t know what you don’t know”. Your second year, you know what you should be doing based on your first year, but anticipate that you will have some new challenges. Your third year is filled with “..this is what I need to be doing and I know what to do!”  

Taking the time to acknowledge what you have learned is a self-check-in point that is a characteristic of a successful leader. This can be as simple as taking a few minutes at the end of each day to just breathe and acknowledge that you made it through the day. Maybe you learned that you have a staff member who is very sensitive and you need to keep that in mind when providing feedback to that person. Or, you identified that one of your classrooms needs some more guidance and structure in establishing learning targets for their students. You may have identified that a parent needs some assistance understanding the purpose of an IEP...that it is not a cure, but rather a plan to assist their children with accessing, participating, and progressing in the educational environment in order to receive a free, appropriate, public education. As you reflect on the first semester of the school year, you may have realized that you need to have a better understanding of special education finance, general education standards, or the evaluation process for those you supervise. Take what you have learned and let it guide you through the next quarter. 

One area that everyone has been struggling with, regardless of their status as an administrator, is securing and supporting new special education personnel. Here is an example of what one special education cooperative has done to secure and develop new special education personnel:

Franklin and Jefferson Counties Special Education District Cooperative decided to create its own training program to help address the shortage of certified special education teachers and to support new and newer special education teachers in the field. With the shortage of special educators, we wanted to make sure those hired into special education teaching positions felt supported by the special education cooperative, whether they are certified or emergency substitutes. We provide basic IEP workshops, goal and progress workshops, workshops to share behavior modification strategies, specialized training for ABA Therapies, beginning level and data deep dives into RTI data utilizing i-Ready data, and much more.  

 

We want special education teachers to love their jobs! We want IEP's that are legally defensible and appropriate for each and every child! So, our administrative team got to work on creating an annual training program for new and newer special education teachers. This allows them to network with other special education teachers and special education administrative staff, gain important skills they likely did not discuss in depth in their university education program, and ask questions about anything they want. Our hope is that new teachers find support and confidence in their skills as we walk with them through their first year or years as special education teachers.  

The Special Education Leadership Academy will be hosting a variety of workshops, academies, and networking events throughout the year. Check out our offerings on the IAASE Website as well as watch for announcements regarding our plan to support new special education administrators. In the meantime, as you journey down the yellow brick road of special education leadership, when in doubt, click your heels three times and repeat “..there is no better job than being a special education administrator!” Remember that you got your job because others around you found you had the traits and qualities to do the job. Believe in yourself, seek support from your friends along the way, and celebrate each and every step down the yellow brick road!

Submitted by: Christi Flores and Jera Pieper on behalf of the Special Education Leadership Academy