| The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate elementary school principals' perception about their level of knowledge related to leading special education programs utilizing special education leadership best practices. The researcher included other variables such as gender, educational qualifications, school size, and years of experiences to analyze the demographic data. The finding of this study may help the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia to understand the needs of school principals about special education leadership. In addition, this study could draw university professors' attention to consider adding specific courses related to special education leadership for future elementary school principals. The researcher used a survey with permission designed by Keenoy, and included in his dissertation, to collect data regarding the knowledge of school principals about managing special education programs. Subjects in the survey were depending on special education best practice and standards for leadership. The survey included two parts and a total of 27 questions. The first part contained 13 demographic questions, and the second part contained 14 questions related to personal level of knowledge regarding managing special education. There were 103 Elementary schools who had special education program. However, the researcher received 74 survey because some schools were out the city of Riyadh and other schools no longer had special education program. In detail, the researcher received 16 out of 21 female principals-surveys, and researcher received 58 out of 59 surveys which were distributed to male principals.;The total respond percentage was 78.4 % from male and 21.6 from female. The researcher found the majority of the principals in the study have a moderate knowledge regarding managing special education. In addition, there were not significant differences in levels of special education leadership knowledge regarding gender, qualifications, years of experiences, or school size. The researcher concluded the study with implication for practice and research regarding special education leadership. |
