Running Head: THE CULTURAL WORK OF INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS 1 Leadership for Equity and Inclusivity in Schools: The Cultural Work of Inclusive Schools

A set of schools located across the U.S. partnered with a federally-funded, inclusive schools, systems approach to improving outcomes for all students. All students included general and special education students. Specifically, students with extensive support needs stemming from intellectual and development disabilities were members of the school communities. Two years of data from the schools provided evidence of changes in specific school leadership practices. Schools that received targeted, feature-specific technical assistance in the Administrative Leadership domain improved their administrative leadership performance as measured by the SWIFT-FIT. Improvements were noted in the two major aspects of leadership measurement: Strong and Engaged Leadership and Strong Educator Support System features. Improvements corresponded with higher achievement scores on English Language Arts and Math as measured by the PARCC assessment. These results show promise for continued focus on improving school administrator leadership in order to install more inclusive systems of support for learning that are associated with higher levels of student achievement.