Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Carrie Ball

Second Advisor

Steve Gruenert

Third Advisor

Amanda Whybrew

Abstract

This quantitative study explored general education teacher perceptions of the most impactful principal leadership actions for developing teacher self-efficacy for the education of students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms and schools. An Inclusive Leadership Practices survey was developed by the researcher using qualitative research from Whybrew (2018), the Essential Best Practices in Inclusive Schools Tool (Jorgensen et al., 2012), and leadership research by Hitt and Tucker (2016). General education teachers with experience teaching students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms who chose to participate in this study completed the survey as a measure of their perceptions on inclusive leadership practices. They were asked to share their self-perceived ability to influence the education of students with disabilities on the short form of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale created by Tschannen-Moran & Hoy (2001). This study addressed the following research questions: 1. What is the factor structure of the newly developed Inclusive Leadership Practices Survey when used with general education teachers? 2. Is there a significant relationship between formal special education training, holding an administrator license, years of experience working with students with disabilities, being a caregiver for a student with an IEP, school configuration (elementary or secondary), inclusive leadership practices and teacher self-efficacy? 3. After controlling for demographic variables (e.g., formal special education training, holding an administrator license, being a caregiver for a student with an IEP, years of teaching experience with students with disabilities, and elementary versus secondary experiences, do perceived inclusive leadership practices significantly predict teacher self-efficacy? The findings of this study resulted in being able to generalize and streamline inclusive leadership practices across K-12 education.

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