A recent District Administration “Talking Out of School” podcast explores how charter schools can improve support for students with disabilities, featuring insights from a two-year study by Lauren Morando Rhim, our Executive Director.
A recent District Administration “Talking Out of School” podcast explores how charter schools can improve support for students with disabilities, featuring insights from a two-year study by Lauren Morando Rhim, our Executive Director.
CLE’s executive director, Lauren Morando Rhim spoke with Vox about why many families are turning to homeschooling and microschools to better accommodate children with disabilities and learning differences.
CLE’s Senior Director of Strategy and Impact, Jennifer Coco, is quoted in the Axios New Orleans “New Orleans schools may centralize services for students with disabilities” article.
CLE’s Senior Director of Strategy and Impact, Jennifer Coco, is quoted in the “Charter school leaders support centralized approach to special education, report” from the New Orleans Public Radio.
Center for Learner Equity report reveals broad consensus from local schools to explore shared services amid deep concerns from families and schools about current challenges and inequities.
For many Washington families, navigating special education is a daily struggle that ends with disappointment and despair. Some Washington charter schools are upending this long-standing equation, giving parents and their children with disabilities something entirely different: hope for the future.
“The origin of the charter sector was to expand opportunities for kids from marginalized demographics,” says Executive Director Lauren Morando Rhim. “With kids of color and low-income kids, the charter sector has done that. But for kids with disabilities, it has not.”
“Parents of kids with disabilities are not interested in the argument of districts vs. charters; they just want good schools,” CLE Executive Director Lauren Morando Rhim said. “In our ideal world, their child could go to both schools, they are both good options, and [parents] know how to navigate those choices.”
The two-year research study reveals that education leaders and policymakers are not doing enough to ensure students with disabilities receive a high-quality education at charter schools and highlights how state policymakers, authorizers, nonprofits, charter management organizations, and individual schools can improve the educational experiences of students with disabilities.