Introduction

More than ever, in today's climate of heightened expectations for our nation's schools, principals are in the hot seat to improve teaching and learning. This is a book written primarily for school leaders, specifically school-based administrators, by three authors who currently are, or have been, in the proverbial hot seat for many years. However, by the very nature of its contents, this book has important implications for vice principals, preservice principal candidates, special education specialists, school counselors, and classroom teachers. The book is designed to improve the education of elementary school children of low socioeconomic status (low SES children)—who far too often come to school with low school-readiness skills—by preventing their misidentification as learning disabled (LD).

When educators don't clearly understand the criteria for identification ...