Charters that serve only special needs

Dozens of charters nationwide focus on serving students with disabilities, counter to a long-running criticism that charters don't serve kids with special needs, reports Arianna Prothero for Education Week. Yet these schools also renew questions about the best educational environment for students with disabilities: Are kids with special needs better served in a specialized school, or in a mainstream setting with general education students? Parents of students with disabilities often push for special schools, but experts point to federal law and related research that prescribe such students be integrated as much as possible with typically developing peers. There are few data on exactly how many special education-focused charter schools exist; one count was 100 in 2012-13. This number is small compared to over 6,000 charter schools operating nationally, but many predict specialized schools will gain in popularity because they offer a tuition-free option for parents seeking such programs. In many ways, the schools align with the choice movement: responding to parental demand and gaps in the "education marketplace." This choice may collide with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires students with disabilities be taught in the "least restrictive environment" appropriate for their needs. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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