Students With Disabilities Suspended More Often At Charters

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: Disability Scoop

by Shaun Heasley | March 25, 2016

Charter schools are suspending students with disabilities at higher rates than typically-developing children and in numbers that outpace traditional public schools, a first-of-its-kind report indicates.

In an analysis of discipline records for nearly 5,000 charter schools, researchers identified deep disparities no matter which grades charters served even though fewer children with disabilities attend such schools, according to the report from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at
the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Overall, the analysis shows that 15.5 percent of students with disabilities at charters were suspended compared to 13.7 percent of such children at other schools. Higher suspension rates were also noted for black children attending charters.

However, rates were far more disproportionate at some schools than others. Researchers found that at 235 charters, half of all students with disabilities had been suspended. And at nearly 500 charter schools, the suspension rate for students with disabilities was 20 points higher than for other kids.

“The high-suspending charters need not look very far to find much lower suspending charter schools,” Losen said. “So these findings elevate the need for oversight of charter schools and a continuing review for possible civil rights violations. There should be no excuses for charter schools that fail to comply with civil rights laws.”

Read more: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/03/25/students-suspended-charters/22090/

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/us/charter-schools-suspend-black-and-disabled-students-more-study-says.html
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-17/study-charter-schools-suspend-more-black-students-disabled-students

[Still In Wisconsin]

1. But Scott Walker says charter schools need NO oversight.

Because he says so.

[chapdrum]

2. Wow-what a surprise

Just like the Netflix overlord Reed Hastings recently earmarking a mere $100 million toward further privatized, er, charter schools.

[Orrex]

3. If only this had been immediately obvious to everyone from the outset

Other than anyone with a functioning brain stem, who could possibly have predicted such an outcome?

[valerief]

4. Charter schools--all the disadvantages of private schools with all the money of public funding. nt

[KamaAina]

5. And "counseled out", i.e., their parents are strongly encouraged to look elsewhere.

Remember, a big part of charters' appeal is their allegedly high test scores. This is one of the key ways they manipulate those scores, by making sure that those damn disabled kids aren't around to drag them down. Meanwhile, those counseled out end up in -- drum roll, please -- traditional public schools, whose scores get artificially lowered at the same time the charters' scores get artificially inflated. As the guy in the Guinness commercial says, "Brilliant!"

And yes, I know some disabled kids outperform their normate peers on tests. I was one of them. But I was "the exception that proves the rule". Kids with learning disabilities in particular, almost by definition, underperform their peers, to say nothing of those with hearing or visual disabilities who aren't given proper accommodations.

[dembotoz]

6. public schools have to take all. private no so much

[proverbialwisdom]

7. Related.

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/03/22/schools-shortened-disabilities/22068/

Schools Warned On Shortened Schedules For Those With Disabilities
by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian/TNS | March 22, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. – Like many 16-year-olds, Franklin High sophomore Jerry Grimmer loves to pal around with his friends and favorite adults at school.

When his teacher, Stephanie Haynes, headed to a faculty meeting, leaving Jerry’s special education class in the hands of teacher’s aides, Grimmer piped in: “You want me to handle the class, Mrs. H?” She suggested he read aloud to the class, and he did.

A full school day is a welcome change for the Southeast Portland teen. For an entire school year, over the objections of Grimmer, his mother and his teacher, Portland Public Schools allowed Grimmer, who has autism, to attend only a half-day of school.

That decision, which high-ranking Portland special education officials decline to explain, deprived the high school freshman of more than 500 hours of class – an apparent violation of state and federal education laws.

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No one knows precisely how many Oregon students have been placed on prolonged partial-day schedules. But “it’s safe to say more than 1,000,” Greenberg said, “based on the limited fact-finding we are able to do.”

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[proverbialwisdom]

8. Related.

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/04/08/low-special-ed-graduation-rates/22149/

Low Special Ed Graduation Rates Haunt Educators
by Tony Pugh, McClatchy Washington Bureau/TNS | April 8, 2016

It took five years for Dawlton McMillan to finish high school in Holly Springs, Miss.

The former special education student had learning disabilities in reading and writing that required her to take extra courses, outside speech therapy and alternative exit exams in order to complete high school.

Along the way, her mother, Debbey McMillan, battled school officials to get her daughter the instruction and services she felt she needed.

When Dawlton finally graduated in 2014, she not only fulfilled her mother’s dream but also became somewhat of a rarity in Mississippi: a special education student with a standard high school diploma.

Nationally, 63 percent of students with disabilities graduated high school in 2014, the last year with available data. But only 28 percent did so in Mississippi. Only Nevada fared worse, at 27.6 percent.

Ron Hager, senior staff attorney at the National Disability Rights Network, said graduation rates for special education students in Mississippi and Nevada were embarrassing.

“I would be embarrassed about those numbers,” Hager said. “There should be like bells and whistles and clangs going off that we’re failing this many of our students. I mean this is failure. It should be looked at as a failure.”

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