ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on responsive practice-focused instructional leadership for early intervention. They highlight contextual factors that shape how responsive practice-focused instructional leadership should be defined and applied in early intervention. They review historical models that have influenced leadership scholarship in general education and special education and present implementation science as a framework for conceptualizing and defining responsive practice-focused leadership. Key features and categories of action for responsive practice-focused instructional leadership in early intervention are aligned to core components of an implementation science framework and current recommended leadership practices in early intervention and advanced standards for special education administrators are examined with respect to these features and categories. The authors illustrate how principles and practices from organizational behavior management might be used to specify responsive practice-focused instructional leadership actions. They also propose four categories under which leadership actions should be organized to advance the application of responsive practice-focused instructional leadership in early intervention to achieve instructional quality and effectiveness.
