Through powerful narratives of parents of Black and Latinx students with disabilities, this book provides a unique look at the relationship between disability, race, urban space, and market-driven educational policies. Offering significant insights into complex forms of educational exclusion, the text illustrates the actual challenges and paradoxes of school choice faced by today's parents. Included are explanations for the kinds of injustices students with disabilities face every day, as well as resources that can be helpful for engaging in collective action aimed at improving educational services for all children. This accessible resource offers recommendations to help policymakers, charter school administrators, teachers, and families tackle the challenges of school choice while dealing effectively with the new generation of inclusive schools.Book Features: Presents a first-of-its-kind look at how Black and Latinx parents of students with disabilities experience market-driven approaches to education. Identifies the consequences of push-out practices in charter schools and how families experience and resist these practices. Situates school choice amid historical and compounding forms of exclusion associated with geographical (neighborhood) and social (disability, race, and class) locations. Provides lessons learned and valuable guidance for creating a new generation of inclusive charter schools.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Hope Against the Perverse Ripples of Equality Reforms Alfredo J. Artiles—ix Acknowledgments—xiii 1. Introduction—1 Excluded by Choice: Entering the Great American Education Debate—5 Is This a Book Against Charter Schools?—11 A Book About Disability, Race, Education, and Urban Space: Outline of the Book—13 2. Choosing Schools? Stories of Desperation—18 Searching for Safety—21 Special Education Services: Austerity Measures and Segregation—34 Academics—42 Perceiving the Disinvestment and Destabilization of Public Schools—45 3. Choosing Schools? Stories of Optimistic Attachments—53 Parents' Perceptions of Safety in Charter Schools—59 Perceptions of Charter Schools as Academically Rigorous—62 The Perception of Charter Schools as Well-Resourced Educational Spaces—64 4. The Cruelty of Optimistic Attachments: Pushout Practices in Charter Schools—69 Discipline and Academic Practices—71 Delay and Deny Special Education Services—78 Lack of Trained Teachers—84 Suggesting to "Choose" Another School: "Think of What Is Best for Your Child"—87 Aren't These Practices a Violation of Federal Law?—91 5. Sustaining Hopes of "Inclusion": Fight or Flee—94 Complaining to the Charter Administration: "Becoming a Pest"—95 he Role of the School District—98 Working with Lawyers—103 6. The Consequences—112 Being Pushed Out—112 Deteriorating Students' Well-Being—116 Impact on Parents' Well-Being—127 7. Fantasies of Inclusion in the Education MarketSpace: Theoretical Contributions—129 Parental Choice in the Education MarketSpace—129 Fantasies of Inclusion—138 The New Racial Inequities in Special Education—146 8. Toward an Intersectional and Radical Inclusive Education: Recommendations—150 Intersectional Inclusive Education Principles—151 Recommendations for Practice—154 Recommendations for Policy—160 Recommendations for Research—164 Conclusion—166 Appendix: Methods—168 Researcher Positionality—168 Recruitment of Participants—169 Data Collection—170 Data Analysis—172 Limitations of the Study—174 References—176 Index—192 About the Author