IDEA Leadership Essentials
for Supporting Children with Disabilities and Their Families
Introduction
The IDEA Leadership Essentials describe the knowledge, skills, and mindsets early intervention (EI) and PreK—12 administrators need to effectively implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in programs and schools.
Grounded in data and evidence, the Essentials specify the leaders' role in promoting an ecosystem that leads to progress for all children, including those with disabilities.
Each of the six IDEA Leadership Essentials is organized to include an action-oriented statement, a core mindset, and indicators of successful demonstration of the administrator's IDEA responsibilities.
Together, the Essentials reflect the multi-faceted nature of leadership for children with disabilities at the individual, organizational, and community levels.
Would you like a resource that distills the full IDEA Leadership Essentials into a concise, at-a-glance format? Download the IDEA Leadership Essentials Overview.
Professional, Legal, & Ethical Practices
Make ethically and legally sound decisions toward increased access and belonging for children with disabilities.
Educator/Provider Supports
Build and sustain a committed, collaborative, and capable workforce dedicated to fostering the success of children with disabilities.
Instruction & Intervention Leadership
Monitor, evaluate, and improve service delivery, instruction, and interventions for children with disabilities.
Vision Setting & Strategic Leadership
Set a clear direction and communicate a shared vision that promotes collaboration and leads to strategic, impactful actions.
Institutional (School/EI Program) Leadership: Operations, Systems, and Resources
Align resources and develop operations and systems driven by continuous improvement to address IDEA challenges.
Family & Community Engagement
Engage in and maintain authentic family and community partnerships.
Are the IDEA Leadership Essentials "Just More Competencies?"
Although the Essentials emphasize key mindsets and actions for leaders, they were designed to complement, enhance, and extend existing leadership competency frameworks, not replace them.
By integrating these IDEA Essentials with broader leadership competency frameworks, early intervention program and school administrators can more effectively implement IDEA to support children with disabilities and their families.
The Essentials were developed through a rigorous review of existing standards, frameworks, and research that guide both general and special education leadership across the birth-to-Grade-12 continuum.
Core Standards, Frameworks, and Research
- A Meta-analysis of the Relationship Between Different Leadership Practice and Organizational, Teaming, Leader, and Employee Outcomes
- The Early Childhood Personnel Center's Leadership Competency Knowledge and Skills Statements for Part B 619 and Part C.
- Division of Early Childhood Recommended Practices
- Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL)
- PSEL 2015 and Promoting Principal Leadership for the Success of Students with Disabilities (CCSSO and the CEEDAR Center)
- Essential Elements for Sustainable School Systems (PROGRESS Center)
- The Council of School Administrators of Special Education Administrator Standards
- How Principals Affect Students and Schools