AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) is the premier accrediting body for business schools. Of the thousands of business schools worldwide, fewer than five percent have met the high standards for AACSB accreditation. The latest version of AACSB's accreditation standards was adopted in 2013 and updated in…

The article addresses 10 questions that should receive thoughtful consideration prior to initiating a competency testing program for handicapped students. (Author)

Discusses the constitutionality of community service activity as a graduation requirement. Analyzes issues in the "Steirer versus Bethlehem" case, in particular school district control of the curriculum, the first amendment and free speech, and the 13th amendment and involuntary servitude. (SR)

Service learning is not immune from legal problems. In 1993, the third Circuit Court of Appeals quashed a lawsuit claiming a school's mandatory public-service requirement violated the 1st and 13th amendments. The most recent case was pursued against a New York district whose modest public-service requirement supposedly forced students into…

Chapter 6 of a book on school law attempts to identify and examine a few of the legal problems raised by minimum competency programs, which make successful performance on a standardized test a condition for receipt of a high school diploma. The three areas where minimum competency tests are most likely to be challenged are the equal protection and…

This brief overview of minimum competency testing and disabled high school students discusses: the inclusion or exclusion of handicapped students in minimum competency testing programs; approaches to accommodating the individual needs of handicapped students; and legal issues. Surveys of states that have mandated minimum competency tests indicate…

Minimum competency testing (MCT) programs for students are growing in popularity and being adopted by many states. In order to determine the extent of the MCT movement, researchers at North Carolina State University surveyed state departments of education in all 50 states. In updating these data for 1986-1987, it was found that 64 percent of the…

Competency-based education programs could raise three kinds of legal issues: claims under the due process clause, claims of discrimination under the equal protection clause, and claims of negligence. (Author/JM)

More than thirty states, as well as numerous local school districts, have adopted some form of student minimum competency program. Such programs vary widely in their purposes which range all the way from instructional and curriculum planning to deciding whether students are promoted from grade to grade. Thus far, there has been little actual…

Competency testing often refers to a system devised to assure successful performance on a specific test, in addition to other mandated criteria as a requisite to obtaining a high school diploma. Minimum competency testing is usually defined in one of two ways: as the acquisition of basic skills or as the demonstrated ability to apply basic skills…

The purpose of this research paper is to identify and examine legal issues and implications of mandatory competency tests (MCT) for high school graduation. The major data source for this investigation was actual court cases and abstracts and interpretations of court cases. It is not the purpose of this paper to perform a general review of…

Discussion of high school graduation requirements for students with disabilities focuses on legal and practical issues including graduation standards, minimum competency testing, and termination of services. Recommendations are offered to help school districts establish a process for graduating students with disabilities within the legal framework…

Intended to help state level administrators plan for minimal competency testing programs, the guide discusses conceptual, legal, and budgeting considerations involved in competency programs for different handicapped populations. Problems and remedies are cited from a longitudinal study of the implementation of P.L. 94-142, the Education for All…

This legal analysis examines a federal appeals court decision which found three student theses written as graduation requirements and filed in a library did not constitute printed publications and thus bar the patent application of the college professor involved. Institutions are urged to develop comprehensive patent policies for student and…

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2003), in 2002-03, the number of students with disabilities between the ages of 6 and 21 who were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was 5,946,202. About 80% of students with disabilities were educated in general education and resource room settings. In contrast, only…