“Special education” is an umbrella term for a variety of accommodations, supports, and services provided by general and special education teachers that enable students to access the general education curriculum and grow both academically and socially. (NCLD 7.) Public charter schools are a big part of today’s education reform. Charters strive to take new approaches on learning to better the quality of education for students. Charters value varying curriculums, school choice, and student success. Herron High School, a local Indianapolis charter school, has the following mission statement, “Herron High School is a community of scholars that advances timeless ideas and content, builds a culture of respect and trust and engages in an urban …show more content…
(NAPCS 8.) Parents of special needs students often want their child be fully included into the school’s society, while they also wish for individual focus. So it stands to reason that charter schools and special education are a perfect match. Right?
Is Inclusion really Inclusive?
In all schools, decisions related to special education are made by an Individualized Education Program team. After a student has been identified as “eligible for special education services,” the IEP team, with the student and parents, develops a program to provide the student with access to the curriculum and supports that will enable them to succeed. Whether special needs students are taught in general classrooms, or exclusively, is dependent solely on the school in which they attend. However, public charter schools, on average, serve more of their students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Therefore, some academic researchers are quite skeptical regarding the extent to which charter schools are failing to provide services. Herron High School has undergone such skepticism.
Pulling Out Method Herron’s big claim to fame is their graduation rate: 97% of students graduate after the typical four years. (HHS 2014) This is terribly exciting- it’s a huge selling point. But an administrator at Herron- who asked to remain anonymous, (as to not jeopardize his employment,) explained to me how
Public education has had a negative effect on students; it’s often because of the bigger class sizes, poor test scores, and high crime in the surrounding areas. Public schools need to revise their system to determine what’s the best fit for their student’s educational needs. All children who live in a school district have a right to attend a district school. Many parents would like more options and opportunities for their child, and would like to be involved in their child’s education. Charter schools are part of the answer for a better educational choice for children’s academic achievement. Charter schools have many successful methods and continue to pave the way for children’s education needs .
Chicago charter high school has a higher standard of education and curriculum for students and to a pathway to early collage. The Three main points that I will be explaining in this essay are: Charter schools benefits students and help students achieve by improving academic performance and results through specific charters. As schools operating outside of the traditional public school system, charter schools could provide more flexibility and improved leaning environment as well individualized choices or pathways for students. The Charter schools provide choices for families that are educational. It improves specific curriculum ideas and makes teachers have more balance in their work. The thesis statement states the essay’s main argument
Furthermore, focus is critical to the student’s ability to succeed and the charter’s ability to educate its students. With special attention, the school can demonstrate a comprehensive strategy stressing a field of study, such as technical or artistic disciplines. In this way, getting students ready for the real world, gears them up for college, sets them up for continued success. "The charter schools' superiority was greater in states where they had been in existence longer and enrolled more students." ("The Charter Advantage," 2005) A school’s assertive actions can weed out teachers who are not performing adequately. Teachers must be able to teach in a way (not necessarily mainstream) that instructs, inspires, and motivates students to excel. Charter schools have the ability to do that. Students may not have the same abilities or interests, but the teacher must allow the student’s
The first day of school is a rite of passage for most children. The step from home or day care to school is huge: they are a big kid now. However, sometimes the local Public School, especially in rural or economically challenged areas, can be an uncertain, questionable and scary place, and yet parents are expected to entrust them with their five or six year old child. Some years ago, when my daughter was ready to enter school, she and I had just such an experience, and we began to seriously search for an alternative school for her to attend. What we discovered was a Charter School: a possible solution for parents, enabling them to take more control of their child’s education. For my daughter and
Charter schools are unique public schools that are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement (what is a charter school 2017). Because they are public schools, they are open to all children; do not charge tuition; and do not have special entrance requirements. The core of the charter school model is the belief that public schools should be held accountable for student learning (what is a charter school 2017). In exchange for this accountability, school leaders should be given freedom to do whatever it takes to help students achieve and should share what works with the broader public school system so that all students benefit (what is a charter school
Students in charter schools has their education results improved significantly compares to the others who are going to public schools. Charter schools, like public schools, receive public funding. These school are
Many charter schools are known for their rigorous programs that challenge students to fulfill specific requirements that are different from traditional schools. Charter schools also value the idea of cultivating students with a talent for arts, technology or music (Chen). Institutions such as charter schools may be viewed as open or loosely constructed based on the unique guidelines displayed in each school’s charter, but in reality this is untrue because the individuality of each charter is what allows each student to excel based on the personalization and attention given to every single student who attends. A charter school has the potential to reach out into the community and help children who are not able to fit in at a traditional public school and it may allow the student to learn from a new perspective. Any child is allowed to apply to a charter school and they are admitted on a first-come, first served basis or through a lottery. The decision is not made on race or sex of the child and there is a fair chance for every student. A charter school is a great alternative to private school because there is no tuition fee at a charter school which is run by the state. Operators of the charter schools are able to provide children with a school that will create new and improved services which are lacking in the public school districts (“Charter School FAQ”). A charter school can also help
Charter Schools: Another Flawed Educational Reform?, a book written by the late Seymour B. Sarason, author and Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Institution for Social and Policy Analysis at Yale University, is a plea to educators and legislators alike to thoroughly consider the possible effects of creating and funding charter schools. Sarason’s background in the field, at the time of publication, spanned over fifty years, and included many educational reform-related papers and books.
“Educational privatization is controversial and politically contentious.” So said Henry Levin (2008) as he wrote regarding issues in educational privatization. Four of the principles Levin uses to evaluate school choice policies are summarized in this essay, as are the advantages and disadvantages of charter schools with regard to these principles and a policy suggestion developed in consideration of the growth in income equality in the U.S. that would help balance Levin’s four principles.
For a statistical analysis like the one done by the FLDOE to demonstrate that charter schools improve the test scores, the data must be taken with exactly similar subsets of students, in order to use these statistics as evidence that charter schools are improving education. This is not the case. Parents who send their children to charter schools generally do so with the intention of providing their children with a better education; this is not always the case for students in district schools. I know this from personal
Students with complex disabilities or requiring services are costly, and charter schools are avoiding having to be financially responsible for these students, leaving public schools overwhelmed. Matozzo (2015) in his article about the city of Philadelphia notes, “Because Philadelphia public schools are required to take students who live in their neighborhood despite their capacity, they are at a severe disadvantage in educating students compared to charter schools….that charter school size limits are leaving Philadelphia public schools as a whole with a higher percentage of poor and special education students to
When choosing the “perfect school,” parents must take into consideration how well the school is managing their financial aspect in operations and what type of programs are in place to develop value skills in addition to learning. Charter and public schools have different agendas in the way the delivery of education is given to meet educational standards and it is up to the parents to decide which pathway will be more beneficial to their children. Schools can be considered the second home for students because they spend hours each week interacting with teachers and peers, therefore it is important to take into consideration everything a school can offer when exploring the different
Charter schools provide choices, making it an attractive factor for parents. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools give parents more choices in what they want. In states with charter laws, students have the option to attend school where ever they deemed fit for them, there is no district zone restrictions to follow by, as long as they are accepted by the administration of the school. Which means a student is not stuck in a district zone school where the school is only subpar to schools elsewhere. They allow students from any district a chance to enroll, but not everyone gets in because of the limited amount of seats each school has and they cannot possibly accept everyone. Although not everyone is accepted, but those that
However, exceptional students need innovative programs to teach them in an individualized and creative way. They include kids with learning disabilities, ADHD, or emotional or psychological issues. The Charter Schools include full-time boarding schools, therapeutic wilderness programs and design and technology based schools. Parents have the option to send their child to the school that is best for the child, not just the school that is the most convenient.
Special education is an ethically and politically complex area of professional education (Paul, French, & Cranston-Gingras, 2001). Critics have claimed that special education does not benefit student with disabilities and should be renounced for ethical reasons (Gartner & Lipsky, 1989). Others assert that special education is unethical because it stigmatizes and segregates minority students and violates the rights of children (Grossman, 1998; Granger & Granger, 1986). On the other hand, proponents of special education point to the effectiveness of intensive interventions in the area of reading (Wanzek & Vaughn, 2007), as well as literature reviews which have found special education services contribute more to the academic achievement of students with learning disabilities and emotional disorders than general education classrooms (citations from Fuchs). Although the overrepresentation (and underrepresentation) of certain minority populations is an ongoing concern for the field of special education, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have long supported special education initiatives as long as the identification and labeling of students is “based on need, not race” (Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, 2005). The debates over the effectiveness and identification of students with disabilities highlight a couple of the ways in ethical issues underlie special education. Yet, this is only the tip of the ethical iceberg. Issues of ethics