{"title":"Choice, Mobility, and Classification: Disaggregating the Charter School Special Education Gap","authors":"Allison F. Gilmour, C. Shanks, Marcus A. Winters","doi":"10.1177/07419325221115421","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Growing numbers of students are educated in charter schools, including students with disabilities (SWD). Prior research suggests that charter schools educate a smaller percentage of SWD than traditional public schools, leading to a special education gap between sectors. We used data from a large urban district to examine how choice, mobility, and special education classification influenced the special education gap with descriptive statistics, gap decomposition, and causal analyses relying on a randomized component of school assignment. The driver of the gap was parental choice, with parents of SWD less often choosing charter schools. Enrolling in a charter school had no effect on the probability that a student was newly identified for special education services, but increased the probability that a student was deidentified for special education services. We discuss potential mechanisms underlying these results, with attention to factors that shape parental choice, and future research needed to understand parental choices.","PeriodicalId":48042,"journal":{"name":"Remedial and Special Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Remedial and Special Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/07419325221115421","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SPECIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Growing numbers of students are educated in charter schools, including students with disabilities (SWD). Prior research suggests that charter schools educate a smaller percentage of SWD than traditional public schools, leading to a special education gap between sectors. We used data from a large urban district to examine how choice, mobility, and special education classification influenced the special education gap with descriptive statistics, gap decomposition, and causal analyses relying on a randomized component of school assignment. The driver of the gap was parental choice, with parents of SWD less often choosing charter schools. Enrolling in a charter school had no effect on the probability that a student was newly identified for special education services, but increased the probability that a student was deidentified for special education services. We discuss potential mechanisms underlying these results, with attention to factors that shape parental choice, and future research needed to understand parental choices.
期刊介绍:
Remedial and Special Education (RASE) is devoted to the discussion of issues involving the education of persons for whom typical instruction is not effective. Emphasis is on the interpretation of research literature and recommendations for the practice of remedial and special education. Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to, definition, identification, assessment, characteristics, management, and instruction of underachieving and exceptional children, youth, and adults; related services; family involvement; service delivery systems; legislation; litigation; and professional standards and training.