Volume 4 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal of K-12 Educational Research - Page 53

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 51 Introduction Charter schools have existed in the United States since 1991. The movement began as a reaction to the perceived deficiencies of public education (Center for Research on Education Outcomes [CREDO], 2013; Mulligan, n.d.; Rhim & McLaughlin, 2001; Schneider, 2017). Increased autonomy from state and local rules, regulations, and policies provided the freedom to innovate and create effective schools, providing parents a choice in their child’s public education (Kahama, 2015; Ravitch, 2010; Rhim & McLaughlin, 2001). Charter schools continue to be a growing sector of public education and are frequently compared to traditional public-school (TPS) districts in order to assess their quality and to determine if they are fulfilling their purpose of improving the public school system. One area of critique for charter schools is the enrollment and education of students with disabilities. Multiple studies report charter schools nationwide are under enrolling and under serving students with disabilities when compared to traditional public-school districts (Ahearn, 2001; Center for Law and Education, 2012; CREDO, 2013; Drame & Frattura, 2011; Estes, 2009; Maughan, 2001; Miron, 2014; Prothero, 2014; Rhim & Kothari, 2018; Rhim & McLaughlin, 2001; Stern, Clonan, Jaffee, & Lee, 2015; U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2012; Winters, 2015). Purpose of the Study In the current study, the researcher used a mixed-method design to determine if a significant difference exists in the enrollment numbers and academic outcomes of special education students in charter schools in North Texas compared to special education students in traditional public schools in North Texas. In the quantitative portion of the current study, 96 charter school campuses were compared to their peer traditional public school campus in the areas of enrollment and academic outcomes. The primary focus of this journal article, however, is to present the qualitative portion of the current study, which sought to explore charter school general education teachers’ perceptions regarding identification, services, support, and self-efficacy in educating students with disabilities. By exploring the perceptions of general education teachers in charter schools in North Texas, and by comparing the quantitative and qualitive perception data, the researcher provided a better understanding of the generalizability of the results across all charter schools. Literature Review The charter school movement began in 1991 as a strategy to improve public education by providing educational options through school choice, encouraging innovation aimed at improving student outcomes (Estes, 2009; Rhim, 2008). Nearly 30 years later, 3.2 million students were served in more than 7,000 charter schools in 2017-2018. Nationally, charter schools serve more minority students and economically disadvantaged students than traditional public schools and are more likely to serve concentrations of students who live in poverty than traditional public- school districts (Center for Education Reform, 2018). This Journal of K-12 Educational Research 2020, VOL. 4, ISSUE 1 www.dbu.edu/doctoral/edd CHARTER SCHOOLS AND STUDENTSWITH DISABLITIES: A COMPARISON OF CHARTER SCHOOLS AND TRADITIONAL PUBLIC-SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN NORTH TEXAS Deborah Garton, EdD