In the 1995 legislation establishing charter schools in the state of Louisiana, the Louisiana Legislature indicated their intention "that the best interests of at-risk pupils be the overriding consideration in implementing the provisions of this Chapter" (Charter School Demonstration Programs, 1997). Furthermore, the legislation required a mechanism to analyze the efficacy of these schools in order to replicate positive results and eliminate negative results. The purpose of this study was to examine the policies and practices the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) uses to monitor charter schools authorized by Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) in light of the legislative intention for these schools and using a Disabilities Studies in Education lens to define "best interests." In order to do so, the researcher conducted a mixed methods program evaluation using Bernhardt's Multiple Measures of Data as the baseline of a framework for both collecting data about these monitoring processes and understanding the data that LDOE and BESE collect within these monitoring processes. Because the Louisiana Legislative Auditor (LLA) had previously evaluated these processes, the first phase of this study was to understand LDOE's current monitoring process for state authorized charter schools relative to previous recommendations made by LLA. The next phase of the study involved synthesizing data collected in the current monitoring process to consider the performance of BESE-authorized charter schools. Finally, the researcher collected perceptual data from leaders of these schools to consider the data they prioritize for school improvement and the data they believe BESE and LDOE should prioritize in monitoring their schools in light of the legislative intention for these schools. This study included data from 46 state-authorized charter schools and additional perceptual data from school leaders of 12 of these 46 schools. The schools under the administration of these school leaders include a geographic and demographic range representative of all 46 schools. The program evaluation revealed that LDOE's current monitoring processes heavily rely on a narrowly defined set of student learning data, that LDOE has in many cases not incorporated the recommendations of the LLA, that many charter schools are not fulfilling their legal obligation to enroll students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students at rates comparable to their local public school district, and that many charter school leaders do not prioritize the use of data specific to students with disabilities relative to overall data. Furthermore, as a mechanism to analyze the efficacy of these schools, LDOE's current monitoring process neither determines school efficacy nor is designed in a way to effectively understand the instructional and organizational inputs leading to this efficacy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]