TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION

6-Part Webinar Series: Featuring Frances Stetson and Team

Transformational LeadershipTransformational Leadership for Special Education is designed to equip district and school leaders with the tools and strategies to assess current practices, implement research-based improvements, and create lasting impact. Throughout this series, participants will engage in critical discussions on strategies to achieve systems change, design program evaluations that provide critical insights, impact necessary instructional changes for improved student outcomes, install effective service delivery models, and improve assessment practices. The final session will provide each participant with an essential guide to doing more with less through uncertain times.
 
Each session will provide practical insights and real-world examples to help administrators and special education leaders drive sustainable change. In addition, each session will offer a library of strategies, templates, and a self-assessment tool entitled: Quality Standards for Inclusive Schools. This tool will guide attendees in identifying strengths, uncovering areas for growth, and creating an action plan for implementing meaningful change. By the conclusion of this series, leaders will be equipped to achieve changed mindsets and practices across a district or a school! 
"In today's rapidly evolving world, organizations face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, demanding leaders who can inspire, motivate, and empower their teams to navigate complexity and achieve extraordinary results."
 
~Jonathan M. Pham
As CASE members consider the context for district and school leaders responsible for students with disabilities today, do any of these challenges resonate with you and your strategic plans to move your educational organization forward?
 
The need to:
  • Build shared ownership for all students that eliminates a divided service landscape
  • Create classrooms that reflect high-impact, research-based instructional strategies that ensure Tier 1 strategies are in place, thus advancing access to and success within the general education curriculum
  • Reverse historically ingrained low expectations for students with disabilities
  • Implement new approaches to staffing and scheduling that result in true individualization and radically higher outcomes
  • Reexamine the use of instructional time and activities for students who spend a portion of their instructional day in a specialized setting
  • Capture the opportunity to significantly increase the effective and efficient use of fiscal and human resources in a time of scarce capital and personnel
Session 1 is free for everyone; Sessions 2-6 are for Members Only. Join CASE at this link to participate in all 6 sessions!
Each session is from 1:00-2:00 PM (Central Time)
 
September 16, 2025
Session 1 - Initiating Systems Change: Defining Your District's Culture
Register Here
This first session introduces four critical phases of the change process that every leader can use to implement new programs, services, compliance requirement, or improved practices effectively. Participants will receive a clear, practical roadmap for initiating, implementing, monitoring, and sustaining systems-level change. Presenters will share a simple process, lessons learned and examples of "necessary conditions for success". The highlights of one district's journey will be shared as a useful example to follow. This first session also provides a framework that will be helpful in gaining maximum benefit from the remaining sessions regarding specific change priorities. 
   
October 7, 2025
Session 2. Program Evaluation as a Catalyst for Change
Register for Session 2
How can a comprehensive program evaluation drive data-informed decision-making and systemic improvements? In this session, we will examine the value of a program evaluation process in identifying strengths, gaps, and opportunities in special education services. Administrators will learn how to use evaluation data as a launching point for redesigning service delivery, staffing structures, and profession development priorities to enhance student outcomes. 
 
Participants will learn how to strategically align staffing, scheduling, and resource allocation to ensure students with disabilities receive the right level of support in the most effective setting.
   
October 28, 2025
Session 3. Special Educators as Instructional Leaders
Register for Session 3
Special education administrators play a critical role in shaping instructional excellence across all classrooms. This session focuses on strengthening collaboration between special education and curriculum & instruction departments to ensure alignment, high expectations, and shared responsibility for student success. We will also examine various classroom walkthrough instruments that will enable you to pinpoint successes, areas for improvement and answers to current achievement gaps and professional development needs. Participants will explore strategies for:
  • Building instructional leadership capacity in special education teams
  • Creating meaningful collaboration between general and special education staff
  • Ensuring special education leadership is actively engaged in district-wide instructional initiatives, and more.
   
November 18, 2025
Session 4. Rethinking Delivery Systems: Effective Models of Support
Register for Session 4
Traditional models of special education service delivery are evolving to better support inclusive and student-centered practices. This session will explore innovative models of support that maximize student success, including Advance Support (Proactive planning and targeted interventions), In-Class Support (Co-teaching and support facilitation) in the general education classroom, and Specialized Support when intensive interventions are necessary for a portion of the day. Participants will receive observation tools and protocols for making the best use of collaborative planning time!
   
December 9, 2025
Session 5. Beyond Compliance: Evaluating Special Education Assessments as the Cornerstone for Quality & Impact
Register for Session 5
While state and federal compliance pressures often drive decision-making in special education, the true impact is measured by student performance and success. This session will challenge leaders to combine compliance-centered Full and Individual Evaluations (FIE)s to student-centered decision-making.
 
Specifically, we will:
  • Examine how evaluation practices can be clearly connected to effective instructional decisions and progress monitoring,
  • Balance compliance with meaningful student data and academic implications, and
  • Engage principals, evaluation staff, and district leaders in sharing the responsibility for and implementing refined practices that offer a clear path to student success.
By reframing student evaluations as a tool for improvement rather than as solely a compliance function, special education leaders can ensure targeted instruction and higher levels of student achievement.
   
January 13, 2026
Session 6. Doing More with Less!
Register for Session 6
In times of scarce capital and qualified personnel, leaders capture the opportunity to increase the effective and efficient use of fiscal and human resources. This final session provides each participant with a tabbed notebook for reviewing the current use of resources in each budget category (staff, contracted personnel, materials, and more). You will learn multiple strategies that apply in school districts--large and small—to review your current approaches and discover we still have room for improvement in their selection, preparation, use, and accountability for results. A template for comparison data with regard to salaries, workloads, caseloads, and other relevant metrics will also be provided. This final session will enable you to “put a bow” on your plans for systems change orchestrated in the previous sessions. Perfect timing for our uncertain financial times!