Aimed at parents of and advocates for special needs children, explains how to develop a relationship with a school, monitor a child's progress, understand relevant legislation, and document correspondence and conversations.
America has always been committed to the idea that citizens can work together to build a common world. Today, three afflictions keep us from pursuing that noble ideal. The first and most obvious affliction is identity politics, which seeks to transform America by turning politics into a religious venue of sacrificial offering. For now, the sacrificial scapegoat is the white, heterosexual, man. After he is humiliated and purged, who will be the object of cathartic rage? White women? Black men? Identity politics is the anti-egalitarian spiritual eugenics of our age. It demands that pure and innocent groups ascend, and the stained transgressor groups be purged. The second affliction is that citizens oscillate back and forth, in bipolar fashion, at one moment feeling invincible on their social media platforms and, the next, feeling impotent to face the everyday problems of life without the guidance of experts and global managers. Third, Americans are afflicted by a disease that cannot quite be named, characterized by an addictive hope that they can find cheap shortcuts that bypass the difficult labors of everyday life. Instead of real friendship, we seek social media “friends.” Instead of meals at home, we order “fast food.” Instead of real shopping, we “shop” online. Instead of counting on our families and neighbors to address our problems, we look to the state to take care of us. In its many forms, this disease promises release from our labors, yet impoverishes us all. American Awakening chronicles all of these problems, yet gives us hope for the future.
[This text] teaches you how to use the law as your sword and your shield. Learn what the law says about: Child's right to a free, appropriate education (FAPE); Individual education programs, IEP teams, transition and progress; Evaluations, reevaluations, consent and independent educational evaluations; Eligibility and placement decisions; Least restrictive environment, mainstreaming, and inclusion; Research based instruction, discrepancy formulas and response to intervention; Discipline, suspensions, and expulsions; Safeguards, mediation, confidentiality, new procedures and timelines for due process hearings.--Back cover.
This Brief reviews the past, present, and future use of school corporal punishment in the United States, a practice that remains legal in 19 states as it is constitutionally permitted according to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of school corporal punishment, nearly 200,000 children are paddled in schools each year. Most Americans are unaware of this fact or the physical injuries sustained by countless school children who are hit with objects by school personnel in the name of discipline. Therefore, Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools begins by summarizing the legal basis for school corporal punishment and trends in Americans’ attitudes about it. It then presents trends in the use of school corporal punishment in the United States over time to establish its past and current prevalence. It then discusses what is known about the effects of school corporal punishment on children, though with so little research on this topic, much of the relevant literature is focused on parents’ use of corporal punishment with their children. It also provides results from a policy analysis that examines the effect of state-level school corporal punishment bans on trends in juvenile crime. It concludes by discussing potential legal, policy, and advocacy avenues for abolition of school corporal punishment at the state and federal levels as well as summarizing how school corporal punishment is being used and what its potential implications are for thousands of individual students and for the society at large. As school corporal punishment becomes more and more regulated at the state level, Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools serves an essential guide for policymakers and advocates across the country as well as for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students.
During the mid-to-late 20th Century, education law emerged as a distinct area of practice and scholarship in the United States. Attorneys began to develop specialties representing school districts, students, parents, and teachers, while law schools and colleges of education started to offer courses about the legal regulation of K-12 public schools. The statutory and common law governing schools grew rapidly, and developed in a manner that often treated public schools differently from other governmental entities. Now, law schools and colleges of education regularly offer an education law course. Many states' school administrator certificates require some familiarity with education law. The scholarly field of education law is rich and deep. Attorneys play a key role in education policy, as do state and federal legislatures and regulatory agencies. The issues range from school funding to supporting English learners; from racial equality to teachers' labor laws; from student privacy to school choice. Addressing those issues and more, The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Education Law provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of K-12 education law in the United States. A number of foundational chapters present a synthesis of general areas of law for those who seek an introduction. Dozens of other chapters build on those foundations, diving into various topics in a nuanced, yet accessible, way, creating value for those who seek to deepen or reframe their knowledge about a specific issue. Throughout the volume and especially in the last section, the authors also look to the future and thus help shape the direction of the field.
Clear, well organized presentation of IDEA and other pertinent federal laws, together with well organized discussion of relevant cases, help educators understand and apply their knowledge in concrete situations. The emphasis of this practical book is on increasing understanding at a conceptual level rather than rote memorization of detailed provisions of the IDEA and other laws. By understanding the law, educators will be better equipped to work with future amendments of IDEA and with new laws that may be enacted by Congress. They will also have an increased ability to apply statutory provisions to specific situations. Part I - Constitutional Framework: provides important background in understanding the authority that Congress has to enact laws that impact on education in the United States and the authority that the courts have to interpret laws. Includes discussion of the judicial system, the key provisions of the United States Constitution, due process, equal protection, the statutes of certain regulations, and a brief overview and comparison of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Rehabilitation Act (RA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Part II - IDEA: covers background, basic language and coverage, duty to evaluate, FAPE, IEP, placement, related services, inclusions/least restrictive environment, private school, discipline, mediation, due process, and court proceedings. Sample forms are included to supplement discussion with concrete examples to aid understanding. Part III - RA and ADA: covers RA/ADA basics, such as who is an individual with a disability, what entities are covered, enforcement provisions, and application to schools, universities, and employers. Part IV - Other Legal Issues: covers No Child Left Behind, FERPA, tort liability, and high stakes testing issues. At the end of each part there is a very basic question and answer section to assist the student in focusing on major points in each part.
Educators working with Palestini's textbook Law and American Education: a Case Brief Approach will find this comprehensive pedagogical tool useful. It contains the full briefs for the cases excerpted in the text, as well as diacritical and pedagogical suggestions. In addition to chapter-by-chapter methodology, the manual also contains a sample syllabus, sample examinations, and a supplement on the controversial issue of sexual harassment. This is an excellent companion for educators with no background in school law.
During the mid-nineteenth century, Americans created the functional equivalent of earlier state religious establishments. Supported by mandatory taxation, purportedly inclusive, and vested with messianic promise, public schooling, like the earlier established churches, was touted as a bulwark of the Republic and as an essential agent of moral and civic virtue. As was the case with dissenters from early American established churches, some citizens and religious minorities have dissented from the public school system, what historian Sidney Mead calls the country's «established church.» They have objected to the «orthodoxy» of the public school, compulsory taxation, and attempts to abolish their schools or bring them into conformity with the state school paradigm. The Dissenting Tradition in American Education recounts episodes of Catholic and Protestant nonconformity since the inception of public education, including the creation of Catholic and Protestant schools, homeschooling, conflicts regarding regulation of nonconforming schools, and controversy about the propositions of knowledge and dispositions of belief and value sanctioned by the state school. Such dissent suggests that Americans consider disestablishing the public school and ponder means of education more suited to their confessional pluralism and commitments to freedom of conscience, parental liberty, and educational justice.