CRDC 2021-2022 Analysis - Specialized Charter Schools - May 2025 - Facts and Recommendations

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James

CRDC 2021-22 analysis examines specialized charter schools focused on students with disabilities and highlights key trends in how they identify students, organize services, and deliver schooling. The brief uses Civil Rights Data Collection data to quantify two major categories—specialized and alternative specialized charter schools—then compares enrollment patterns and suspension practices. It also provides recommendations for families and advocates to ask targeted questions about specialization, IEP staffing, and inclusive learning access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

About the Civil Rights Data Collection

Key Findings

Specialized charter schools

Alternative specialized charter schools

Recommendations

FAST CRDC 2021-2022 ANALYSIS Specialized Charter Schools MAY 2025 FACTS One of the unique features of charter schools is their flexibility to specialize their education programming by focusing on a particular content area, group of students, or educational philosophy. These focus areas can be an important motivator for charter school founders, teachers, and families that choose to enroll their students. Charter schools specializing in educating students with disabilities may distinguish themselves with a unique set of service offerings or tailored curricula designed to meet specific student needs . AT THE SAME TIME, specialized schools may run counter to long-standing goals to provide students access to inclusive learning environments. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that students with disabilities should be educated in the “least restrictive environment,” in line with research showing that inclusive schools and their classrooms provide stronger academic and non-academic outcomes for students both with and without disabilities.1 The first responsibility of a charter school ecosystem is to offer meaningful, high quality educational choices to families, especially to students most at risk of being shortchanged. It is up to authorizers, state policymakers, and school leaders themselves to ensure that each charter school meets high academic standards for all students, including students with disabilities, and protects each student’s legal rights. Specialized charter schools should be held to the same standards as every other charter school in a state or local ecosystem. In this brief, we use data from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to identify specialized charter schools focused on students with disabilities and identify key trends in how they serve students. We identified 220 specialized charter schools educating students with disabilities, representing 2.9% of charter schools nationwide. These 220 schools are largely of two types: schools that actively choose to specialize in educating one or more of the disabilities identified in IDEA (“specialized charter schools”), or schools that function as specialized for the purpose of enrolling an alternative population of students, of which a significant proportion are students with disabilities (“alternative specialized charter schools”). Our brief attempts to identify and characterize both groups. 1 Hehir, T., Grindal, T., Freeman, B. , Lamoreau, R. , Borquaye, Y., & Burke, S. (2016) . A summary of the evidence on inclusive education. Abt Associates. [https://www.abtglobal.com/insights/publications/report/summary-of-the](https://www.abtglobal.com/insights/publications/report/summary-of-the)evidence-on-inclusive-education; National Council on Disability. (2018) . IDEA series: The segregation of students with disabilities. [https://ncd.gov/assets/uploads/docs/ncd-segregation-swd-508.pdf](https://ncd.gov/assets/uploads/docs/ncd-segregation-swd-508.pdf) Specialized Charter Schools | MAY 2025 2 About the Civil Rights Data Collection In 1968, four years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare collected the first version of what would become the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). Throughout the following 56 years, the CRDC has expanded to include all the nation’s public schools and dramatically evolved its technical sophistication and relevance to policymakers and practitioners alike. The CRDC first disaggregated data on students with disabilities in 1973, predating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) . IDEA and the CRDC have always worked together, the CRDC supplementing data collected under IDEA with context on the broader work of building an equitable education system for students with disabilities of all races, genders, and life experiences. Continued data collection helps researchers, educators, and policymakers determine if studen

FAQs

How many specialized charter schools focus on students with disabilities in 2021-22, and where are they located?

In 2021-22, the U.S. had 154 specialized charter schools across 21 states focused on students with disabilities.

How do specialized and alternative specialized charter schools differ in student identification under IDEA?

The brief reports that specialized charter schools enrolled 20,044 students with 14,048 (70.1%) identified under IDEA, while alternative specialized charter schools enrolled 6,959 students with 2,352 (33.8%) identified under IDEA.

What questions should families ask when considering a specialized charter school for a student with disabilities?

Families should ask how the school specializes and which student profile it serves, how programming and curriculum align to the student’s individualized needs, and what plans exist for specialized staffing to implement the student’s IEP and for inclusive learning opportunities alongside non-disabled peers.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James