This paper presents a meta analysis of the literature on burnout among special education administrators. Discussion of a theoretical framework reviews models of burnout especially Maslach's theoretical model, stages of burnout, and constructs of burnout. The meta analysis of 46 studies of special educator burnout with sufficient data for further quantitative analysis addressed 23 research questions. Of these, five studies focused on special education directors. Analysis found that as role ambiguity increased, so did the frequency and intensity of emotional exhaustion. Also, as role ambiguity increased, the frequency of depersonalization also increased. The small relationships found, however, explained only a small amount of the variance found among special education administrators. Implications are drawn for research (such as inclusion of administrators in studies of burnout) and for practitioners (such as development of coping strategies for dealing with role ambiguity). (Contains approximately 140 references.) (DB)