Historically, private education has been an option mostly for families who could afford the cost or received financial help. Years of research have shown that many families would choose private schools and other educational resources for their children if they did not face insurmountable financial or geographical limitations. Private educational…

This essay is a response to Angela Harris' "Racing Law: Legal Scholarship and the Critical Race Revolution." It further explores what Harris calls the "grammars of governance" from a historical case-law perspective and from the structure of our contemporary educational organization. First, a little-known case involving violence…

This article provides an overview of non-religion-based state constitutional challenges to educational voucher and tax credit/scholarship programs. The first section discusses litigation examining whether education voucher programs violate constitutional provisions requiring the legislature to provide an efficient system of public schools. The…

This update to "SAT Wars" provides new evidence in the case against standardized college entry tests, including the experiences of test-optional colleges. "The Scandal of Standardized Tests" sheds significant light on key problems such as: (1) Are the tests stronger proxies for race and family income today than they were 20…

This paper summarizes the development and evaluation of an assessment instrument for children ages 7-12. The CHILD CARRE measure is a semi-structured interview with 7 domains. Children from the USA and Argentina (N = 134) completed baseline and follow-up assessments. Substance use occurred at an average age of 8. Almost 33% of the children were…

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between teacher dispositions, subject content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and reasons that school principals recommend non-renewal of teachers' contracts. Nearly 2,000 school principals in 13 states completed an emailed survey. In deciding whether to non-renew a teacher contract,…

School personnel need to know legal obligations to report criminal activity observed while performing their duties. This article analyzes civic responsibility and discusses specific North Carolina statutory and common law provisions applying to teachers, principals, and other school staff in certain circumstances. Some violations may be handled…

Recounts the case of a high school drama teacher in North Carolina who was disciplined after she chose a play for her students to perform, Lee Blessing's "Independence," which contained characters and language a parent found objectionable. Discusses the legal case that ensued and implications for academic freedom and the First Amendment.…

The purpose of the report is to inform students, parents, school personnel, and officials of the legal issues related to harassment, bullying, and discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. This report describes existing research on the current school climate for LGBT youth as well as the harmful effects of…

Examines legal issues concerning teachers' noninstructional duties. Discusses several factors influencing court decisions that uphold reasonable assignments of noninstructional duty, including courts' reluctance to interfere with school policies. Presents five assignment guidelines for administrators eager to minimize teacher dissatisfaction and…

This proceedings contain 18 papers on American journalism history before the 20th century. Papers in the proceedings are: "Military and Press Discord during the Civil War: Foreshadowing of Future Disputes" (Maury M. Breecher); "The Missouri Press Association: A Study of the Beginning Motivations, 1867-1876" (Stephen A.…

Outlines the legal authority permitting North Carolina school officials to excuse all students' attendance under a uniform policy and applies this policy to absences and early checkouts by 18-year-olds. Cites cases supporting school officials' legal duty to consider exemptions for 18-year-olds with extenuating family circumstances. Cites 37…

Although women in North Carolina increasingly enter the work force to stay and their "protected" status in marriage is no longer secure, North Carolina's women do not have economic equality under law with men. Husbands have full rights to the rents, profit, and control of entirety property and real estate during marriage; and no women…

This document examines legal issues in the negligent hiring and retention of North Carolina Department of Public Instruction school employees. There are no statutes that relate specifically to negligent hiring or retention; it is a judicially created area of law. This document centers around employees who cause injury to school children, but the…

Focusing on the difficult privacy issues inherent in school health problems, this article offers a legal background to the counseling and record keeping responsibilities facing school personnel dealing with the prevalent and potentially stigmatizing student health problems of pregnancy, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases. (MJL)