What It Takes to Lead an Inclusive School

Inclusive classrooms are no longer a niche within our schools; they are the expectation. As a result, for administrators and school leaders, the question is no longer whether special education teams should lead, but how to intentionally maximize their impact.

Based on my work as an education administrator and as an adjunct professor teaching Universal Design for Learning (UDL), I have seen that the most effectively inclusive schools share a common thread: Leaders create the conditions for special educators and related service providers to function as integral members of instructional teams. The following strategies offer a practical road map for guiding this shift.

3 Core Principles of Universal Design for Learning

In every classroom, students bring a wide range of needs: a strong thinker who struggles with decoding, an English learner who benefits from visual supports, a student with ADHD who needs movement and structure, a highly capable learner who excels with more freedom of choice. UDL provides a structure for designing instruction that supports all of these learners from the outset.

At the core of inclusive instruction is UDL, a proactive framework with three central principles that anticipate learner variability rather than responding after students struggle.

1. Multiple means of engagement. It’s important to identify predictable barriers before instruction begins. For example, during a novel study in an integrated co-teaching classroom, teams anticipate that dense text and abstract themes may limit access. Rather than waiting for breakdowns, teachers embed supports such as audio texts, visual story maps, and short video clips to build background knowledge. These strategies benefit students with individualized education programs (IEPs), English learners, and struggling readers, while enhancing comprehension for all students.

2. Multiple means of action and expression. Engagement is strengthened through choice and relevance, such as choice boards that allow students to demonstrate learning through podcasts, visual models, digital slide shows, or written products. Expression is supported through tools like speech-to-text, digital portfolios, and video reflections that allow students to show what they know in a way that works best for them.

3. Multiple means of representation. Multimedia anchor charts, interactive whiteboard visuals, and captioned instructional videos are all great ways to ensure that students have equitable access to content by engaging with information in formats that align with their strengths, needs, and learning preferences.

When administrators model a UDL mindset, viewing learner variability as the norm rather than the exception, teachers design instruction that is accessible, rigorous, and inclusive from the start.

4 Key Strategies for An INCLUSIVE School Culture

1. Embed assistive technology into everyday learning. Assistive technology (AT) has the greatest impact when it is embedded into daily instruction rather than reserved for isolated interventions. Special educators and related service providers are well-positioned to lead this integration, shifting the focus from “pull out” remediation to classroom-based access.

In practice, this includes low-tech supports such as visual schedules and color-coded materials, mid-tech tools like digital graphic organizers or talking calculators, and high-tech solutions such as text-to-speech, predictive writing tools, or augmentative and alternative communication systems.

The most successful teams follow a simple process:

1. Identify access barriers
2. Trial one or two tools at a time
3. Monitor engagement and independence
4. Adjust as needed

Administrators play a key role by normalizing AT as part of effective instruction, allocating resources strategically, and using data to monitor impact. When AT is integrated consistently, students build independence and confidence, and teachers gain practical tools for differentiation.

2. Use data-informed instructional planning. Data is the engine of inclusive practice. When general and special educators analyze data together, instruction becomes more responsive and targeted. Leaders can maximize this impact by providing access to tools such as Goalbook Toolkit, IXL analytics, or DIBELS, and by structuring collaborative data meetings. Guiding teams through a clear cycle keeps the focus on student outcomes rather than compliance. Think of the steps below as a shared, repeatable cycle for collaborative data meetings that general and special educators can return to regularly to move from information to action:

1. Collect
2. Analyze
3. Plan
4. Implement
5. Reflect

Schools that adopt this approach foster a culture of continuous improvement and share responsibility for student growth.

3. Elevate co-teaching and collaboration. Co-teaching is most effective when it reflects shared leadership rather than parallel instruction. Research-supported models, station, parallel, alternative, team, and one teach/one support offer flexibility, but success depends on planning.

Leaders can strengthen co-teaching by providing co-planning templates, scheduling consistent collaboration time, and encouraging related service providers to co-design instruction. These strategies benefit the entire class, not just students with IEPs.

4. Reframing related service providers as instructional partners. One of the most powerful levers for inclusive school improvement is how leaders position related service providers. Speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and others should not be viewed solely as pull-out providers but as instructional partners who support curriculum access through consultation, co-planning, and design.

In effective schools, administrators bring providers into instructional conversations early during unit planning and data review. This shift reframes the guiding question from “Who needs therapy?” to “What barriers exist, and how can we remove them?” When providers function as consultants who build teacher capacity, their impact multiplies, and services become more sustainable.

Practical First Steps for Schools

Research, including studies on UDL and on co-teaching, as well as CAST’s UDL evidence reviews, confirms that inclusive design and collaboration improve outcomes for all learners.

To begin this work, administrators can do the following:

1. Audit curriculum through a UDL lens
2. Redefine service provider roles toward collaboration
3. Pilot one co-teaching model and collect data
4. Integrate one assistive technology tool consistently
5. Protect time for co-planning and reflection

Special educators and related service providers sit at the intersection of access, equity, and innovation. When school leaders intentionally position them as instructional leaders, schools move from reactive support to proactive inclusion. The path forward is clear: Inclusive leadership begins with intentional structures, shared responsibility, and the courage to place access at the center of school practice.