http://www.nasdse.org

Selected Bibliography

Project SEARCH: (http://www.nasdse.org/project_search_doc2.pdf),
Project SEARCH (Special Education as Requirements in Charter Schools), a qualitative research study, sought to respond to the need for understanding how special education policies are being implemented in the nation's public charter schools. Specifically, Project SEARCH sought to ascertain how laws and regulations governing the education of children with disabilities are interpreted within charter schools and to examine factors that facilitate charter schools; capacity to implement special education policies as defined under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and various state laws and regulations.

SPEDTACS: (http://www.nasdse.org/project_spedtacs.htm)
In October 2001, NASDSE was funded through a national initiatives grant from the U. S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for a two-year project entitled Special Education Technical Assistance for Charter Schools (SPEDTACS). Two important partners have joined us in this effort: the Charter Friends National Network (CFNN), a national coalition of charter school resource centers and operators; associations throughout the country; and the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the membership organization for entities that authorize, oversee and evaluate charter schools.

TA Customizer
The TA Customizer Project will provide critical technical assistance tools tailored to a specific state's unique laws and policy to enhance the capacity of existing and future charter school personnel, authorizers, state officials and others to include and appropriately serve students with disabilities. But perhaps even more importantly, the TA Customizer Project will establish, or further improve, working relationships among state and local education entities and other groups involved with charter schools.

National Association of Charter School Authorizers: www.charterauthorizers.org
The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is a nonprofit membership association of educational agencies across the country that authorize and oversee charter public schools. NACSA welcomes and serves the needs of the full range of chartering authorities: local school boards and districts of all sizes, state boards and departments of education, universities and colleges, municipal bodies, and independent chartering boards.

A Reference Guide to Special Education Law for Charter School Authorizers, Richard Landau (NACSA, December 2003); This guide seeks to bring greater clarity to the key elements of federal special education law and regulation that should guide the authorizer's oversight role in ensuring that charter schools are appropriately addressing the educational needs of students with disabilities

Charter Friends National Network: www.charterfriends.org
Since late 1996, Charter Friends National Network (CFNN) has been a loose network of state-level charter support organizations and activities that has operated as a project of the Minnesota-based Center for Policy Studies in partnership with Hamline University in St. Paul.

CFNNs initiatives have included accountability, facilities financing, special education and federal policy development. CFNN has also helped start new state-level charter support organizations in states that are passing and strengthening charter school laws