special education in charter schools

1: August 2003 Project Intersect 1 Special Education in Charter Schools Lauren Morando Rhim University of Maryland

2: Project Intersect 2

3: Project Intersect 3 Three Major Findings Project SEARCH Policy Tensions Knowledge Gap Critical Role of Legal Identity and Linkage

4: Project Intersect 4 Policy Tensions Autonomy and Regulation Parental Choice and Team Decision-making

5: Project Intersect 5 Special Education Knowledge Gap IDEA Requires Depth of Knowledge Critical Gap between Knowledge and Practice Lack of Knowledge Interferes with Successful Implementation Knowledge Gap Apparent at All Levels

6: Project Intersect 6 Legal Identity and Linkage Total-link For purposes of special education�linked to existing LEA Partial-link For purposes of special education�legally independent, but legislated requirement for negotiated relationship No-link Legally independent in all areas including special education. Bears total responsibility for IDEA

7: Project Intersect 7 Issues for Total-link States Trade-offs Benefit from depth of LEA experience, but must negotiate and can result in conformity Limits on autonomy Special education staff hires Service delivery model

8: Project Intersect 8 Issues for Partial-link States Linkage manifests itself on continuum Negotiation can still be an issue Responsibility can be confusing

9: Project Intersect 9 Issues for No-link States Providing continuum of special education services Start-up of special education program Issues relating to size and autonomy

10: Project Intersect 10 Implications of Findings Understanding how to address policy tensions Autonomy versus regulation Charter schools� need an infrastructure to alleviate the problems Addressing knowledge gap Understanding the role of linkage when writing and amending laws Providing more definition to prevent problems and issues

11: Project Intersect 11 New Research Project Intersect: Studying the Intersection of Special Education and Charter Schools Analytical Model: Project Intersect will examine the relationship among three sets of variables and charter schools� special education procedures and practices. The three sets of variables include 1) features of the charter school law, 2) characteristics of charter schools, and 3) nature and type of special education technical assistance and infrastructure

12: Project Intersect 12 Project Intersect Special Education Infrastructure: an LEA, special education or charter school cooperative, or other service delivery structure (e.g., local non-profit, risk pooling arrangement, or education management organization) that provides a charter school with technical assistance, a financial safety net, and the multiple specialized instructional personnel charter schools require to deliver appropriate special education programs.

13: Project Intersect 13 Research Methodology Record Review/Review of the Literature Survey of State Directors of Special Education and State Directors of Charter Schools Survey of and Interviews with Charter School Authorizers Charter School Operator Survey Case Studies of Administrative and Organizational Infrastructures

14: Project Intersect 14 Preliminary Findings Key challenges: finance, special education and related services professionals Select states are developing TA systems, most are simply integrating charter schools into traditional systems Infrastructures are emerging, field/consumer driven