Join us in celebrating our 10th anniversary! As we reflect on our journey, we take pride in our commitment to breaking down barriers and expanding learning opportunities for students with disabilities.
With their increased autonomy and flexibility, charter schools can be a promising educational option for students with disabilities. However, during the inception of the charter movement, very few people were focused on ensuring that charter school policies addressed the needs of students with disabilities.
This analysis by The 74 shows Minnesota could fill its vacancies three times over if it lured back special ed teachers from less-grueling regular ed classrooms. Wendy Tucker, CLE’s Senior Policy Fellow, is quoted in this article to help illustrate the challenges students with disabilities face every day.
Thanks to The 74 for including this article examining why our society is willing to accept failure for an entire group of students, which was co-authored by David Flink, co-founder and CEO of Eye to Eye, and CLE’s Lauren Morando Rhim. We are honored to be included among some of America’s most prominent names in education who tackle some of the thorniest issues facing the country’s schools.
In response to persistent challenges associated with ensuring that New Orleans’ families and students with disabilities can access high-quality supports and services across the city’s uniquely decentralized, all-charter school system, The Center for Learner Equity (CLE) sought to understand the root causes of these challenges and surface viable systemic solutions through in-depth interviews with local stakeholders.
The pandemic has ushered in a new era of student discipline, both in and outside of the school building.
As an advocate for students with disabilities and charter schools, I am appalled at the current situation at Franklin Towne Charter High School and urge the Philadelphia School Board to pursue steps to close the school due to discriminatory practices dating back to 2016.
While CLE is not advocating for the IDEA to be amended during the current Congress, we do believe that, at the appropriate time, Representative Molinaro’s bill would be a big step in the right direction in making sure that parents of students with disabilities are able to meaningfully participate in the IEP process.
David Greenberg and Karega Rausch of NACSA share the results of their year-long analysis of how charters are authorized yielded some key suggestions for how applications should evolve.
On July 24, 2023, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) of the U.S. Department of Education (US ED) released a Dear Colleague letter (DCL) and lengthy guidance related to the responsibilities states have to oversee the education of students with disabilities in their schools and to ensure that those students are afforded all of their rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Read about why this matters and how it impacts charter schools in the full report.