Giving Compass' Take:

• The National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools’ Equity Coalition released a document with seven principles for charter schools to follow and can serve as a resource for parents of children with disabilities. 

• Some believe that because charter schools have the autonomy and are continually innovating, they will be at the forefront of special education. 

• Read about how parents can learn how to be the best advocates for their children with disabilities. 

Now, under the umbrella of the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools’ Equity Coalition, 21 organizations dedicated to public education and disability advocacy have released a document, “Principles of Equitable Schools."

Center Co-Founder and Executive Director Lauren Morando Rhim and Chief of Staff Lindsay Coker spoke to The 74 about how parents can use the principles, and what to look for and ask when visiting a prospective school.

  1. Accessibility: Coker suggests looking at a school’s website or printed materials to get a sense of how the school presents itself. “Parents can look to see if there’s any messaging, and if that messaging indicates an openness and inclusiveness,” she says.
  2. Inclusion: A key here is to ask questions that will determine how personalized the plan for meeting each student’s needs is, says Morando Rhim.
  3. Quality. Morando Rhim says parents should listen to discern whether a school uses data to pinpoint areas where students need help meeting challenges.
  4. Collaboration. Uncomfortable as it is, parents should hold the line until they are confident in their child’s plan, says Morando Rhim — “and recognize that their signature means something and they are equal participants,” she says.
  5. Accountability. “If I talked to a school and it’s clear from talking to them that they see a student having a disability as a predictor of that student never being able to succeed, that’s a red flag for me to ask more questions.”
  6. Autonomy and Flexibility. “We think charters have an opportunity to try to figure out how to serve kids with moderate to severe needs in a way that hopefully will avoid oversegregating kids and re-creating separate settings that have been so common in traditional public schools.
  7. Resources. In many places, schools are underfunded, making it important for parents to get a sense of how a school budgets the resources it has. But in other places, resources are used inequitably.

Read the full article about children with disabilities by Beth Hawkins at The 74