Abstract
This article discusses the growing misalignment between the roles teachers are expected to play in schools and their core instructional responsibilities. Drawing on evidence from the United States, Germany, and international exemplars such as Finland, Norway, Singapore, and Ontario, we argue that educational systems have increasingly placed non-academic demands on teachers, ranging from administrative tasks, behavior management, and the implementation of social-emotional learning and diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks, at the expense of rigorous academic instruction. Grounded in the metaphor "putting the cart before the horse" we argue that this inversion of priorities has diluted the instructional mission of schooling and contributed to teacher burnout and declining student outcomes. While this issue affects all students, it is particularly detrimentalfor those with special educational needs, such as students with learning disabilities (SWLD). To restore instructional integrity, we present actionable recommendations to realign teacher preparation, instructional leadership, and accountability systems with what should be the main mission of schools: academic learning. Centering academic instruction is not only sound practice; it is an equity imperative for SWLD. Keywords: academic instruction, special education, learning disabilities, teacher preparation, instructional integrity