ESE and Charter Schools

1
ESE and Charter Schools

• Adam Miller
• Office of Independent Education and Parental
  Choice

2
Overview

• Performance Data
• Needs Assessment Results
• Rules and Regulations
• Current Issues

3
Charter School Performance

• CREDO Report (Florida)
• Charter students perform at lower level initially
• Charter students outperform by year 3
• Issues with methodology
• RAND Study
• Charter high schools in Florida, have
  substantial positive effects on both high school
  completion and college attendance.
• Florida, 57 percent of students attending a
  charter school in grade nine went to either a
  two-year of four-year post secondary institution
  within five years of starting high school
  (compared to 40 percent of students who started
  grade nine in a traditional public school)

4
School Level Data
5
School Level- AYP Comparison
6
FCAT Data- Populations
7
Preliminary 08/09 Data- Florida

• 63 comparisons
• Proficiency in Reading, Math, Science
• Elementary, Middle, High School
• Total
• White, African American, Hispanic
• FRL
• ESE
• ELL
• Higher charter achievement in 53 comparisons

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ESE Membership Data
9
ESE Density (school level)
10
ESE Density and AYP
11
ESE Density and AYP
12
FCAT Reading
13
FCAT Math
14
FCAT Science
15
Needs Assessment Results
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Preliminary Needs Assessment

• November 2008
• Identification of training needs of charters
• Addressed all areas, including ESE
• n230
• Top 4 areas identified by schools
• Instructional strategies, ESE instructional
  strategies, Learning Gains, Accountability

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Preliminary Needs AssessmentSchool Responses-
ESE (n208)
18
Preliminary Needs AssessmentDistrict Responses
(n22)
19
ESE Needs Assessment (July 09)

• Second needs assessment
• Follow up to initial assessment in Nov. 08
• n94

20
Demographics of Respondents
21
ESE Support from Sponsor of respondents
answered meets or exceeds expectations
22
Schools 3 Most Urgent Training Needs(available
responses)
23
Training Needs of respondents indicating need
24
Training Needs- High Density
25
Rules and Regulations
26
State Statutes Eligible Students

• Students with disabilities and students served in
  English for Speakers of Other Languages programs
  shall have an equal opportunity of being selected
  for enrollment in a charter school. (s.
  1002.33(10)(f), F.S.)

27
State Statute Enrollment Preference

• A charter school may limit the enrollment process
  to target, Students considered at risk of
  dropping out of school or academic failure. Such
  students shall include exceptional education
  students. (s. 1002.33(10)(e)2, F.S.)

28
State Statute Exemptions

• A charter school shall operate in accordance with
  its charter and shall be exempt from all statutes
  in chapters 1000-1013. However, a charter school
  shall be in compliance with the following
  statutes in chapters 1000-1013
• Those statutes pertaining to the provision of
  services to students with disabilities. (s.
  1002.33(16)(a)3, F.S.)

29
State Statute Sponsor Services

• A sponsor shall provide certain administrative
  and educational services to charter schools.
  These services shall include contract management
  services full-time equivalent and data reporting
  services exceptional student education
  administration services (s. 1002.33(20), F.S.)

30
State Statute Funding

• If the district school board is providing
  programs or services to students funded by
  federal funds, any eligible students enrolled in
  charter schools in the school district shall be
  provided federal funds for the same level of
  service provided students in the schools operated
  by the district school board. (s. 1002.33(17)(c),
  F.S.)

31
State Statute ARRA

• Charter schools shall be included by the
  Department of Education and the district school
  board in requests for federal stimulus funds in
  the same manner as district school board-operated
  public schools, including Title I and IDEA funds
  and shall be entitled to receive such funds. (s.
  1002.33(17)(d), F.S.)

32
State Statute Funding

• District school boards shall make timely and
  efficient payment and reimbursement to charter
  schools, including processing paperwork required
  to access special state and federal funding for
  which they may be eligibleThe payment shall be
  issued no later than 10 working days after the
  district school board receives a distribution of
  state or federal funds. (s. 1002.33(17)(e), F.S.)

33
IDEA- Charter Responsibilities

• Rights of children with disabilities. Children
  with disabilities who attend public charter
  schools and their parents retain all rights under
  this part.

34
IDEA LEA responsibilities

• Serve students in same manner as its traditional
  public school students.
• Including supplementary and related services on
  site at charter school.
• Provide IDEA funds to charter school on same
  basis as funds are provided to traditional public
  schools.

35
NCLB Title V, Part B

• Federal definition of charter school includes a
  requirement that a charter school, complies with
  the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, title VI of
  the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title IX of the
  Education Amendments of 1972, section 504 of the
  Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and part B of the
  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

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Current Issues
37
Current Issues

• Discrimination
• Lack of Expertise
• Lack of Clarity in Law
• Funding Disparities

38
Discrimination- Research

• Historically, percentage of students receiving
  special education services has been smaller in
  public charter schools than in traditional
  schools. (Estes, 2000, 2001 Rhim McLaughlin,
  1999 USDOE, 1997 USDOE, 2000)

39
Discrimination- Research

• Charter schools may counsel out students with
  significant disabilities (Estes, 2003)
• Charter schools may discourage students with
  disabilities from enrolling (Fiore, et. al, 2000)

40
Florida Data
41
Florida Data
42
Florida Data

• 18 charter schools with 0 ESE enrollment
• Avg. total enrollment for these schools is 28
• Incubator schools/schools within school

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Finding the average school
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Comparison of Average School
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Discussion

• Florida charter schools enroll less SWD than
  traditional.
• SWD in charters tend to perform well.
• State and federal law clearly prohibit
  discrimination
• Model application and contract further clarify
  prohibitions

46
Expertise- Research

• Lack of expertise at charter schools may hinder
  the implementation of programming for students
  with special needs (Estes, 2000, 2001 Glascock
  et al., 1997 Lange, 1997 McLaughlin
  Henderson, 1998 Vernal, 1995).
• Education Commission of the States (1995) found
  that charter directors in seven states felt
  unprepared to accept students with disabilities.
• Some charter schools do not have a formal plan in
  place to serve SWD at time of opening (Lange,
  1997)

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Expertise- Research

• Research tends to focus on the expertise of
  charter school leadership.
• No data on Floridas charter school leadership
  expertise in ESE
• Data available on HQT percentages

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Expertise

• Data reviewed
• ESE classes that are NCLB core course
• Taught by HQT or NHQT

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Expertise- Data
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Expertise- Discussion

• Large gap in HQT (14)
• Reasons?
• Solutions?

51
Statutory Clarity

• April 1995 Only 4 of 12 state charter laws
  mentioned special education (Szabo Gerber,
  1996)
• Review of 41 charter laws in 2007 revealed that
  few of the existing charter school laws and
  regulations resolve or provide clarity regarding
  the myriad of issues related to educating
  students with disabilities in charter schools.
  (Rhim et al., 2007)

52
Statutory Clarity

• the roots of the choice movement, which emerged
  as one of the many reforms conceptualized amidst
  the panic triggered by A Nation at Risk. The
  purpose of such reforms was to raise the bar of
  academic achievement in order for the nation to
  compete in a global economy. As a result,
  students with disabilities may have been an
  afterthought to the movement. (Estes, 2004)

53
Statutory Tension

• Whereas charter schools seek to eliminate or
  reduce bureaucracy to provide students and their
  families with an appropriate educational
  environment, special education seeks to ensure a
  free and appropriate public education for all
  students through legislative regulation. (Lange
  Lehr, 2000)

54
Florida Statutory Issue

• Lack of clarity on responsibilities of LEA and
  charter school.
• Providing services/funding under IDEA
• ESE administration services
• Lack of clarity surrounding reasonable academic
  standards and Students with disabilitiesshall
  have an equal opportunity of being selected for
  enrollment in a charter school.

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Efforts to Clarify

• Model Application
• Model Contract

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Funding Disparities
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Funding Disparities

• National Average
• 10,771 per pupil (traditional public)
• 6,585 per pupil (charter)
• Florida Averages
• 9,542 per pupil (traditional public)
• 6,552 per pupil (charter)
• Center for Education Reform (2006 data)

58
Funding Disparities (Thomas B. Fordham Institute,
2005)

• 7,831 per pupil (traditional public)
• 6,936 per pupil (charter)
• - 11.4 difference

59
ESE Impact Example

• Decreases in funding can have disproportionate
  effect on schools with higher numbers of 254-255
  students.

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Conclusions
61
Where we are

• Performance generally positive with room for
  improvement.
• Needs RtI, Differentiated Instruction
• Sponsor Support Generally meets expectations
• Rules and Regs Lack of clarity

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Where we are (cont)

• Issues
• Discrimination not apparent, but equal
  representation not achieved
• Expertise HQT percentages low, need to assess
  expertise of charter leadership
• Lack of clarity in law- no bright line guidance
• Funding disparity- charters funded at lower
  levels

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Where do we go next?

• Performance and Training Needs
• Department
• Training and TA
• Supporting sponsors
• Sponsor
• Include charters in all PD opportunities

64
Where do we go next?

• Rules and Regs
• Department
• Model Application
• Model Contract
• Sponsor
• Include specifics in contract (ESE
  admininstrative services)
• Clearly define how IDEA funds will be used
• Include charters in development of IDEA
  application

65
Where do we go next?

• Communication

66
Thank you

• Contact Information
• Adam Miller
• 850-245-0998
• Adam.Miller_at_fldoe.org