The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a…

Some private, religious schools that accept vouchers have been accused of discriminating against certain populations of students through their admissions processes. Discriminating against disfavored groups (e.g., racial minorities, LGBT students, students with disabilities, religious minorities) in voucher programs raises both legal and policy…

Bullying is a common occurrence in U.S.'s schools and is currently at the forefront of national attention. Unfortunately, students with disabilities are frequently the targets of peer-on-peer bullying. The purpose of this article is to examine the legal ramifications when students with disabilities are bullied in school settings. We address court…

Title IX is designed to protect students from discrimination based on sex in any educational institution that receives financial assistance. This article focuses on Title IX as it applies to high school athletic programs by considering the trial of a high school district in California. A federal court found considerable inequalities between boys…

Ritha Smith, assistant superintendent, and Seth Hanson, principal, are faced with a difficult decision. Taylor Harper is a transgender student who identifies as male and is openly attracted to females. Taylor's parents, Lane and Morgan Harper, are lesbians; they are fully supportive of their child's identification and are well versed in their…

Purpose: This article examines the role social science has played in litigation involving public single-sex educational programs. It also explores a body of social science research related to gender and education that we believe could assist the courts and school leaders in better examining the possibilities and the limitations of single-sex…

Public schools are full of incidents that fill newspapers, but when a private school is struck with instances of libel, child abuse, and violations of Title IX, the community is at a loss as to what to do.

This study explores four instances where parental choice has been employed as a legal "circuit breaker": (a) First Amendment Establishment Clause cases related to public funding, (b) Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection cases regarding race-conscious student assignment, (c) Title IX regulations concerning single-sex education, and (d) a…

On June 23, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits gender discrimination in any federally financed education program or activity. Title IX is far-reaching, but the law is most often associated with school and college athletics. Title IX allows schools to prove their athletic…

The improper use of reported restraints has been associated with serious injury and death in both mental health and school settings. However, there is currently no federal legislation that regulates the use of reported restraints in the schools in contrast to health care facilities (e.g., Children's Health Act of 2000). As children with…

This literature review presents insights from existing research on how teachers view their role in creating safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI) students. Analysis of the literature shows that there are concerns for LGBTQI students' safety in schools, that educational settings operate from…

The Communities For Equity was a group of Michigan mothers who filed a Title IX discrimination suit against the Michigan High School Athletic Association due to its athletic scheduling practices. The 10-year court battle went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. This case study reviewed the policy decisions of the Wisconsin Interscholastic…

The implementation of non-discriminatory sex legislation provides theoretical and empirical grounds to examine responses by the state to gender equality. Tracing the trajectory of one such law in the U.S.--Title IX--over a period of 40 years, this study analyzes the extent to which the state: (1) acted as a unitary body, and (2) functioned to…

Child Sexual Abuse is a growing epidemic. In the United States, 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before reaching adulthood. From a legal standpoint, inappropriate sexual relations between a faculty/staff member and a student are a growing national concern. In 1991, the Supreme Court heard the Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public…

The instability of the U.S. economy and its competitiveness in the global market has lead to increase request for investment in Higher Education programs. There exists a rising awareness among scholars of how inextricably education is tied to the strength of the economy, the well being of its populace, as well as the importance of a diversified…