This book explores parents' legal rights concerning their children's elementary and secondary education. Besides certain constitutional rights (including parents' right to direct their children's education), parents and students have been granted various rights under state and federal statutes. This book aims to demystify the law and provide parents with the necessary knowledge to assert their rights (outside the court system) and bring violations to the attention of teachers, administrators, and other parents so that their children receive an appropriate education. Following a brief overview of parents' rights, chapters 2 through 6 discuss rights derived from the Constitution, including a student's right to fair treatment by a school disciplinary system, First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and press, freedom of religion and separation of church and state, and equal educational opportunity. Chapters 7 through 9 focus on the common law and state control of education, covering compensation for injured children, damages collection for poor teaching, and conflicts between parent and state education agencies. Chapter 10 treats parents' rights concerning school records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Chapter 11 discusses federal law governing rights of parents of children with special education needs, highlighting the Education for All Children Act of 1975. Chapter 12 concerns physical appearance (proper dress), while chapter 13 confronts the rights of poor and non-English-speaking parents and children. The final chapter covers legal literacy for parents. Three appendices provide constitutional amendments of special relevance to parents and students, legal research hints, and two Supreme Court decisions. Also included are a table of cases, chapter endnotes, and an index. (MLH)

First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A practical guide to helping today's Catholic school teachers deal with the legal issues facing them.

This text presents a comparative, cross-cultural analysis of the legal status of religion in public education in eighteen different nations while offering recommendations for the future improvement of religious education in public schools. Offering rich, analytical insights from a range of renowned scholars with expertise in law, education, and religion, this volume provides detailed consideration of legal complexities impacting the place of religion and religious education in public education. The volume pays attention to issues of national and international relevance including the separation of the church and state; public funding of religious education; the accommodation of students’ devotional needs; and compulsory religious education. The volume thus highlights the increasingly complex interplay of religion, law, and education in diverse educational settings and cultures across developing and developed nations. Providing a valuable contribution to the field of religious secondary education research, this volume will be of interest to researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in religion and law, international and comparative education, and those involved with educational policy at all levels. Those more broadly interested in moral and values education will also benefit from the discussions the book contains.

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will contunue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online.

Every child deserves a great school. When kids fail or schools fail, parents must engage and help restore them to the path of success. That assistance is especially called-for during a process called "Restructuring"--a status in federal law that requires schools to make major changes due to dreadful student test scores year-after-year. An increasing number of schools find themselves on the brink of Restructuring--and struggling with the dramatic overhauls required by the No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLB," for short). Here is the background: NCLB/ESEA requires every school in the country to make "adequate yearly progress," otherwise known as "AYP." The AYP target means a majority of each school's students must have at least the minimum acceptable score on state exams. If that doesn't happen, schools must make changes. If a school fails to meet expectations for five years in a row, then Restructuring is the penalty. This background brief will help parents understand what Restructuring is, what they should know about it, and what they can do about it. Congress will likely be making changes to the law before the end of 2010, but for now, this is what applies. (Contains 26 endnotes.).