In the 2008 statistics set, about 2.5 million US students had been labeled with ‘Specific Learning Disabilities’, a ‘catch-all’ for disorders that impair learning but not a student’s overall cognitive ability. (IES Education Statistics) http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_050.asp

This is a funny category - these are kids with no medical problem, but they are usually sitting in an LD classroom.  There is nothing wrong with them, except that they mostly can’t read.  Schools have a financial incentive to avoid labeling a child, so these kids are really in trouble.

Dyslexia and reading disability are said to affect 10-15% of the population (some estimates are higher), and these likely are simply the bottom 4%, the most severe dyslexics.  But most dyslexics are ‘merely poor readers’, and respond to an intensive phonics intervention - there is nothing wrong with them except that they mostly can’t read.  (Torgesen et. al., 2001)  http://www.fcrr.org/publications/publicationspdffiles/intensive_remedial.pdf

Chances are that these two populations are exactly the same students.  It is wonderful that the charter schools are working against this; the current school system is guilty of educational malpractice on an industrial scale.

The variables are very complex and interwoven. Below a set of links - that dives into the complexity.

But first the blog link in Malkin’s blog posting - “One important takeaway from Marcus’s analysis is that it is not necessarily a terrible thing for special education enrollment to be a bit lower in charter schools than in district schools. Quotas or special education enrollment targets may in fact create perverse incentives to get schools to label more kids as disabled. What we need instead, in both charter and district-run schools, are better ways to inform parents about all of their public school options and rights. Districts and charter authorizers must provide effective oversight to ensure that there is recourse for families who are illegally excluded from any public school.”

Keep the above in mind - if anything the public education system are very poor communicators when it comes to parents.

1. At the National Centre for Learning Disabilities - Charter Schools and Students with Learning Disabilities
http://www.ncld.org/ld-insights/entry/1/141

2. On the LD Online - Students With Disabilities in Charter Schools
http://www.ldonline.org/article/43436/

3. The struggles getting into the charter schools. Keep in mind that the public school boards have the same type of criteria for magnet schools and other specialized schools.  Special Report: Class Struggle - How charter schools get students they want
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-usa-charters-admissions-idUSBRE91E0HF20130215

4. The other side of the coin - Charter Schools: A New Barrier for Children with Disabilities
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct96/vol54/num02/Charter-Schools@-A-New-Barrier-for-Children-with-Disabilities.aspx

5. The National Dissemination for Children with Disabilities - (would you believe that they have lost their federal funding) Times must be real tough!  The Facts on Charter Schools and Students with Disabilities
http://nichcy.org/publications/charters

6. A 2008 report - CHARTER SCHOOLS DESIGNED
FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
http://www.edgateway.net/specialedprimers/download/special_report_mead.pdf

7. An interesting slant - Discipline in the District: Are Expulsions Really Driving Charter Success?
http://gppreview.com/2013/08/05/discipline-in-the-district-are-expulsions-really-driving-charter-success/

8. From the Harvard Review - Chartering Success - “Despite arguments over charter schools’ role in educating special needs students, experts agree on one principle: there is no quick fix for the underrepresentation of special needs students in America’s charter schooling system. Nonetheless, policymakers deserve to make the effort, if a final solution appears substantially more difficult. In the words of President Obama, “We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools.” Given the pro-charter tide of the country, the issue of special education ought not to be left out. If the system cannot adapt and self-correct for institutionalized inequalities in accessibility, then Washington must address discrepancies in opportunities for students with special needs.”
http://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/chartering-success/

pobod

Charter schools have become famous for “push outs”. SE and ELL especially behavioural students are expensive and difficult to teach. Many charters seem to believe it is difficult enough to teach poor kids without having to teach difficult-expensive kids. Schools are famous for contracts, councelling out, telling families your child must score X on the tests or “this is not the place for them”.

They are public schools when they want public money but they become private schools when asked to follow public labour laws. Niiiice.

KIPP founder Dave Levin admitted that KIPP grads did not complete their BA at the same rte as other kids and is frustrated at this well known fact. When the new Common Core tests were tested in New York most charter schools bombed including KIPP.

The only successful one was Success Academy which is almost nothing but test prep 24/7. No middle class family would tolerate her style.

You need to begin to read the opposition literature including Ravitch’s new book. Even she sees a role for Charters. They were designed to be ‘experiments’ like lab schools.

They are popular because Americans are desperate but they are not successful and the more they proliferate the more water is in the wine.

Charter schools are simply not a viable solution and this is becoming clearer by the day.

I supposed Doug did not read any of my links??  What is the missing in the data streams are the data of the public education system. Much of it is not published by the school officials to keep the official narratives of ‘the public school’ does a much better job and no they don’t push our students. The reality is very much different where approximately 94 to 96 percent of all children with disabilities are at the bottom of the achievement chart. Why? The charter schools are showing improvements across the board in disabilities, for students in raising their overall achievement. Some of the links in my last post, indicates it.

Also in the last links, the studies for SE students and other students with various kinds of learning problems are still in their infancy. However, the public education system is not cooperating nor providing studies reflecting the SE student outcomes in the public education system. The bulk of the studies have been left with the various outside organizations such as the national learning disabilities organization to provide such studies using data derived from the public education system.

One such earlier study, indicates only 6 % of the LD student population are formally identified in the public schools. The remaining 94 % will leave the public education system without the documentation that enables the youth to avail of accommodations in work, post-secondary and government services. One can only imagine what the numbers are for the other disability groups. One can only imagine in Canada without IDEA laws like the United States how the 6 % number drops to 3 or 4 % of Canadian students leaving high school have the proper documentation to avail of accommodations and services in the workplace to post-secondary learning.

As in the Harvard Review link in my last post has concluded - ““We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools.” Given the pro-charter tide of the country, the issue of special education ought not to be left out. If the system cannot adapt and self-correct for institutionalized inequalities in accessibility, then Washington must address discrepancies in opportunities for students with special needs.”  The last time I check in Canada, there has been little to no investment in the education of SE children so they too can have as many future doors opened up to them in the workplace and post-secondary.  Apparently it cost too much, according the BC school board at the Moore hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada. The 9 Supreme Court Justices did not buy that argument, along with the other arguments - and awarded the Moores - $110,000 for their troubles. Today the Moore boy, is now a licensed plumber…......as Tom concluded in his post - “Chances are that these two populations are exactly the same students.  It is wonderful that the charter schools are working against this; the current school system is guilty of educational malpractice on an industrial scale.”

You bet it is educational malpractice because the education officials in my youngest child case did not only denied education services, but they mocked me at every opportunity on what I was doing at home.

Even though I have not read the latest book by Ravitch, but what I have concluded, Ravitch wants charter schools to become a dumping ground for the lower achievers at 1/2 the cost. Ravitch and the public educationalists that are hook up with the teachers’ unions have consistently rejected educating all children to their full academic potential.