Parent Experiences in Alabama Charter Schools: Satisfaction, Enrollment Decision-Making, and Special Education

This sequential mixed-methods study explored the experiences of parents of students with andwithout disabilities across six Alabama charter schools, utilizing a survey and focus groups. Thesurvey (n=460) examined parents’ satisfaction with various aspects of their child’s charter school,reasons for enrolling at their current school, and reasons for leaving their previous school. Thesubsequent focus groups (n=36) focused on challenges with and strengths of their respectiveschools, satisfaction with special education services, their experiences navigating theclassification/diagnostic process, and their perceptions about inclusion at their school and charterschools more generally. The results suggest that there are few significant differences between parentsof students with and without disabilities and that parents overall are satisfied with their child’sschool and the special education services their children with disabilities were receiving. Findingsreveal no significant differences in parent perceptions of school responsiveness or inclusivenessacross race/ethnicity groups or student IEP status.