Critical Success Factors of Special Education Administrators

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to empirically identify and describe critical success factors (CSFs) of local special education administrators and to determine the extent to which these factors differed across organizational and demographic variables. The study additionally determined the differences in critical success factors of a nominated group of effective administrators with a random sample of local special education administrators. A nominating process led to the selection of 14 administrators from 250, considered from various structures, sizes, and settings. Interviews (personal and telephone) gave rise to a set of factors and measures considered critical to the success of the administrators and their programs. These factors were then used to construct a survey instrument which was sent to the remaining effective nominees and a random sample of local special education administrators. The findings supported the premise that the effective administrators were more concerned about how they and their programs were a part of the larger cultural context of the schools than the random respondents.