REPORT: Charter Schools Successfully Providing Disabled Students with a Quality Education.

LOS ANGELES -- Report Demonstrates Charters' Effectiveness at Early Intervention Strategies, Suggests Improvements by Allowing Special Education Dollars to Follow Student

A report released today by the Reason Public Policy Institute (RPPI) found that California charter schools are successfully providing students with disabilities with a quality education. The report also found that charter schools are reducing the number of students labeled "special education" through early intervention programs designed to keep students performing at grade level, despite school districts that withhold significant amounts of money intended for their students with disabilities.

The report, entitled, "Special Education Accountability: Structural Reform to Help Charter Schools Make the Grade," concluded that "California charter schools do a better job of meeting 'inclusion' goals by educating disabled students with their non-disabled peers, using individualized curriculum and small class sizes to meet the instructional needs of special education students, and using early intervention strategies to catch learning problems early and avoid the 'wait and fail' special education model."

"When public school teachers are given the ability to tailor programs to meet the needs of their students, including students with disabilities, student achievement goes up and kids escape the damage of a lifetime label," said Caprice Young, CEO of the California Charter Schools Association. "Charter schools are excelling at fully including students with disabilities in regular public school classes. More importantly, charter schools are providing innovative programs that can be introduced into the broader public school system."

The RPPI report cited several charter schools that have created individualized programs in order to keep students with disabilities on track. This includes CHIME Charter School in San Fernando, a public elementary school that is nationally recognized for effectively teaching students that are gifted, typical and who have disabilities in a fully-inclusive environment. CHIME shares its successful program by training many of Los Angeles Unified's special education teachers. The report also lauded Bowling Green Elementary Charter School in Sacramento and Redding School of the Arts as models of full inclusion for students with disabilities.

"Charter schools are fast becoming successful laboratories for changing the way we think about the instruction of students with disabilities," said Julie Fabrocini, principal of San Fernando's CHIME. "Given the autonomy and commitment to make public education work for all kids, we've been allowed to individualize instruction in a manner that benefits everyone."

"This report offers recognition and promise for the work that charters are doing," said Don Shalvey, CEO of Aspire Public Schools, which operates ten charter schools in California. Shalvey was recently selected as Vice Chair to the California Advisory Commission on Special Education. "By giving educators the freedom to innovate, charter schools are developing successful new special education models that are spurring reforms in school districts all across the state."

The RPPI report heavily noted that there are significant financial barriers for charter schools to overcome in order to reach their full potential for serving these students. Sponsoring school districts, most notably Los Angeles Unified School District, withhold up to 37 percent of special education funds to which their charters are entitled. School districts also fail to provide services in return for the special education fees they charge. "In the majority of cases, special education funding does not follow the child into the charter school," said the report.

In order to improve innovation and accountability in charter schools, the report recommended to (among other recommendations):

--Let special education funding follow the child within the public school system.

--Use special education cooperatives and insurance to allow charter schools to achieve economies of scale.

--Employ 'value added' tests that measure the student achievement gains that a teacher adds.

The RPPI report follows the landmark study released in 2003 by the RAND Corporation, which found that California charter schools are more likely to mainstream special education students (39 percent) than matched public schools (19 percent). RAND researchers concluded that, "Clearly, charter schools tended to rely heavily on mainstreaming their special education students where matched conventional public schools tended to rely heavily on pullout programs."

The full text of the Reason Public Policy Institute's Report can be downloaded at: http://www.rppi.org/ps319.pdf

About the California Charter Schools Association

The California Charter Schools Association is California's premier charter school membership organization and is the public voice for California's 471 charter schools that currently serve 170,000 students. The Association supports California's diverse community of charter schools by providing members with the resources, leadership and support they need to work effectively with the entire public school system to ensure that all students get a fair chance to succeed.