Bridging the Divide
Trust Between Special Education and General Education Leadership Teams
Why this relationship determines everything
When special education and general education leadership teams operate in silos, students with disabilities pay the price. Resources are misaligned. Professional development is disconnected. Accountability is shared in name only.
This study exists because the research on trust between these two leadership groups is limited. We know what happens when collaboration fails. We do not yet have a national picture of why it fails, or what conditions make it possible.
This survey is the first step toward that picture. The findings will be published and shared widely with the field to support better structures, better conversations, and better outcomes for students.
Distrust and Its Origins
How distrust develops between special education and general education leadership and what structural conditions sustain it.
Shared Accountability
Whether accountability for student outcomes is genuinely shared or remains siloed by role and program type.
Resource Allocation
How resource decisions are made and whether those processes build or erode trust across leadership teams.
Professional Development
The role of joint professional learning in building or breaking down the divide between program areas.
Structural Conditions
What organizational structures, policies, and leadership practices create the conditions for genuine collaboration.
The questions this study is designed to answer
Each of the 46 survey items maps to one of five research questions. Together they provide a comprehensive picture of the trust dynamic between special and general education leadership in U.S. public schools.
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01Research Question 1
What are the primary sources of distrust?
Examining the specific professional, structural, and relational factors that generate distrust between special education directors and general education leaders in district settings.
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02Research Question 2
How is accountability for student outcomes shared?
Exploring whether and how responsibility for students with disabilities is distributed across leadership teams and whether that distribution reflects genuine partnership.
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03Research Question 3
How do resource allocation processes affect trust?
Investigating how decisions about staffing, funding, time, and materials are made and whether those processes strengthen or undermine cross-functional relationships.
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04Research Question 4
What role does professional development play?
Assessing whether joint professional learning opportunities exist, how they are structured, and whether they contribute meaningfully to shared understanding and trust.
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05Research Question 5
What structural conditions enable genuine collaboration?
Identifying the organizational features, leadership behaviors, and systemic practices that create environments where special and general education leadership can work as true partners.
A 46-item instrument built for rigor and nuance
The survey uses three distinct measurement approaches, each chosen to capture different dimensions of the trust dynamic between leadership teams.
Likert Scales
Five-point agreement and perception scales measuring attitudes toward trust, collaboration, and shared responsibility across leadership pairs.
Behavioral Frequency Scales
Frequency-based items capturing how often specific practices occur: joint planning, shared decision making, cross-functional professional learning.
Forced-Choice Ranking
Priority-ordering items that surface how leaders rank competing values and structural conditions when they cannot select all of them.
Role-Based Conditional Logic
Adaptive question framing that adjusts based on respondent type, ensuring special and general education leaders answer from their actual vantage point.
Role-based conditional logic means the question framing adjusts based on the respondent's role. Whether you identify primarily as a special education leader or a general education leader, the data reflects your actual perspective without forcing artificial equivalence.
This survey is designed for leaders at every level
All responses are confidential and contribute to a national dataset. The survey uses role-based conditional logic so each respondent answers from their own leadership perspective.
Special Education Directors and Administrators
District-level special education directors, coordinators, and supervisors who work alongside or under general education district leadership. Your perspective on trust and accountability from the special education side is the core of this study.
General Education District Leaders
Superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, and other general education district administrators who share oversight with special education leadership. Your view from the general education side is equally essential to the research.
Building-Level Administrators
Principals and assistant principals who navigate the intersection of special education and general education implementation daily. Your ground-level view of how these leadership dynamics play out in schools adds a critical dimension to the dataset.
Study led by practitioners who have lived this work
This research is grounded in decades of direct experience inside special education and general education leadership, not looking in from the outside.
Dr. Nikki Harding, Ed.D.
24 years in special education as a teacher, building leader, and director. Doctoral work focused on educator development and IEP quality. Parent of a child with Down syndrome, who has sat on both sides of the IEP table.
Dr. Crista Grimwood, Ed.D.
Ed.D. with expertise in academic architecture and curriculum design. Ensures every research instrument and program within the Lab is built on research that translates to real classroom and district practice.
Bridging the Divide: National Research Survey
Your participation is voluntary and confidential
This study collects no personally identifying information. All responses are reported in aggregate only. Participation is entirely voluntary and you may stop at any time without consequence.
Results will be shared publicly through publications and presentations to benefit the broader field. Individual districts and respondents will never be identifiable in any published findings.
Questions about the study or data use may be directed to nikki@inclusiveleadershiplab.org or crista@inclusiveleadershiplab.org.