Special Education Administrator Designee
My Changing Identity as a Leader for Justice 
I have been in the position of special education administrator designee at Plasencia Elementary School for ten years. Each year as a team, we make every attempt to refine our administrative process in order to be compliant under state mandates. My changing identity as a leader for justice has been evident this year as I began looking at our special education program through different lenses such as through the eyes of the parent, through the eyes of a child with a disability, through the eyes of a paraprofessional, through the eyes of a special education teacher and general education teacher, and through the eyes of an administrator. When I look at different roles through different lenses, I see the need to deeply understand the important role each one plays in the special education process.
What contributed to my growth as a leader?
The main thing that contributed to my growth as a leader this year was applying what I was learning about adragogy to the work that I was doing as a special education administrator designee; the importance of treating teachers like the professionals they are was invaluable to teacher learning. I also developed an extended appreciation for "job floor" action research that empowered teachers, students, and parents. Teachers were very responsive to the special eduction PDs that were developed under my PLI field work project and measures indicated that we were able to create a more welcoming community for special education students. 
What are my next steps in my curriculum leadership journey?
I plan to continue on with my responsibilities as a special education administrative designee however, I plan to create a school-wide "Be a Buddy" program where each special education student from a special day class has a peer buddy (a general education student) who they spend at least one hour a week during PBL rotations, in the general education classroom, or push in (in the special day classroom). The peer buddy will be responsible for including the student in the learning and making accommodations for that student so that he/she can access the learning. Teachers and paraprofessionals will help provide support, modeling, and scaffolding. 
Looking through a social justice lens this year, I discovered that our school (like many others) has systemic beliefs and practices that disempower paraprofessionals (these are the adults that work one- to-one, day after day, with the students) and show a lack of validation. When I took the temperature of these paraprofessionals at the end of the year they were frustrated because no matter what school they go to they feel like their voices don't matter, yet they have years of experience working with special education students and responding to their needs. They feel that when they try to make a suggestion for the school in order to help students with disabilities, the school ignores them. I plan to come up with a sytem to address these concerns. In planning for next year, my team is discussing creating and administering timely paraprofessional feedback surveys and interviews and using that information to make adjustments within the special education program or the school. We also are planning to assign each paraprofessional a mentor since the paraprofessional is often under stressful conditions and appears to lack the supportive conditions to verbalize the daily stress involved in working with high needs children and situations. 
CPSEL Standards
This project addressed the following Californial Professional Standards for Educational Leaders:
3.4; 4.3; 6.1; 6.2
For specific standards and how they have been addressed through this project click on the link below.
