This article forecasts potential legal problems emerging from the use of new teacher evaluation systems in the states. This research was a policy analysis that combined three types of data to forecast the states and the legal challenges they might encounter: state policy data, selected case law, and problems from the literature of teacher…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954) Supreme Court decision ruled that segregated schools were unequal and unconstitutional. Since Brown's ruling, scholars have questioned whether African American children have benefitted from school desegregation and subsequent school reform initiatives. In spite of several post-Brown school reform…

High school exit exam requirements are affecting a growing number of U.S. students--particularly low-income students and students of color. This article examines the policy and legal landscape of exit testing policy to shed light on some of the key issues facing local school leaders charged with implementing these policies. The article first…

This article reviews the impacts of the civil rights policies framed in the 1960s and the anti-civil rights political and legal movements that reversed them. It documents rising segregation by race and poverty. The policy reversals and transformation of U.S. demography require a new civil rights strategy. Vast immigrations, the sinking White…

A growing number of states and local schools across the country have adopted educator evaluation and accountability programs based on the use of student test scores and value-added models (VAM). A wide array of potential legal issues could arise from the implementation of these programs. This article uses legal analysis and social science evidence…

In a 2012 paper for the Center for American Progress, "The State of Evaluation Reform," Patrick McGuinn (Drew University) identified the opportunities and challenges facing education agencies in Race to the Top (RTTT) grant-winning states as they prepared for the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems. The 2012 study undertook…

The aim of this paper is to review the relevant research on the educational impact of school closures on student learning, provide information on criteria frequently used when closing a school, examine the characteristics of what constitutes a "better school" (i.e., receiving school), and identify strategies that can be used to help…

Since the turn of the century, U.S. education policies have focused on accountability and student progress. Two major pieces of federal legislation--No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004)--pose several legal issues that educators must contemplate as they strive to be…

The purpose of this document is to provide charter school authorizers with targeted technical assistance related to special education in charter schools. Charter school laws are unique to each state, and they provide a wide range of policies and practices for the hundred of authorizers chartering schools nationally. As a result, providing…

The present article, a cross-case analysis, analyzes one aspect of the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that has generated conflict between the U.S. Department of Education and the federal court system. The conflicts arose between the courts' oversight of desegregation and the implementation of the public school choice…

Diversity has been a focus of higher education policy, law, and scholarship for decades, continually expanding to include not only race, ethnicity and gender, but also socioeconomic status, sexual and political orientation, and more. However, existing collections still tend to focus on a narrow definition of diversity in education, or in relation…

The Principal's Legal Handbook contains information and recommendations for practice in four areas. Section 1, "Students and the Law," yields interesting and informative answers on a number of issues related to students and the law: recent issues in schools relative to students' rights; the use of technology; and the latest case law and…

Complaints, hearings, legal opinions, and lawsuits on issues surrounding the training and supervision of paraprofessionals are increasing. Concern over the lack of preparation of paraprofessionals and the sporadic nature of the training that is available to them (Morgan, Hofmeister, & Ashbaker, 1995; Pickett, 1996) have led to the development…

The challenges in improving and sustaining success of children from multicultural backgrounds with disabilities in urban school districts manifest themselves in the contextual dynamics of legal, accountability, demographic, and fiscal terrains. Within each of these areas, educational leaders must solve existing problems of underservicing,…

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…