Special Education Still Lags In District

In charter schools, the monitor said there is often a lack of basic information about student needs, and poor lines of communication with D.C. public schools and the Office of D.C. State Schools Superintendent Deborah A. Gist.

In some cases, children's special education status may be a factor in charter school admissions, according to the report.

"Advocates express concern that charter schools, which cannot exclude students on the basis of disability, may use this information to deny admission to such students," she wrote.

Totenberg added: "Some schools were frank to concede that they would not admit students who required a large number of hours of specialized service or had specific diagnoses they were not equipped to serve."

Public charter schools lag significantly behind traditional public schools in the timely assessment of special needs students and in providing them with individualized education programs, or IEPs, tailored to address their deficits. Just 28.7 percent of special needs students received a prompt assessment in charter schools, as opposed to 72.8 percent of children in D.C. public schools, the report stated.

While the court plan required 90 to 100 percent of students with disabilities to have IEPs by June 30, 10.4 percent of charter students actually did, compared with 88.4 percent of public school students, according to the report.

Josephine Baker, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, said she could neither dispute not confirm the court monitor's numbers.

"I'm not sure who it is they talked to," Baker said. She added that all charter schools have been told that they cannot deny admission to any child where there is space available.