In 1974 the Virginia General Assembly adopted a senate resolution directing the state board of education to study laws preventing youths from choosing alternatives to compulsory school attendance. The board appointed a committee that studied the matter and made recommendations concerning the development of graduation requirements reflecting…

For the 1982-83 school year, the Austin (Texas) Public Schools adopted a high school attendance policy allowing a maximum of 10 absences per semester for course credit to be earned. Under this policy, Austin's high school attendance rose to an all-time high of 93.5 percent in 1983-84. In 1984-85, education reform mandated by the Texas Legislature…

This report presents information on compulsory education. Data were collected through a review of literature, a telephone survey of state Department of Education personnel, and interviews with South Dakota state Department of Education personnel. The document reviews trends in legislation pertaining to compulsory education in the United States and…

This position paper of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) addresses issues related to the discipline of students with severe behavior disorders or other disabilities. It specifically considers: (1) placement of disruptive and/or dangerous students; (2) cost issues of alternatives to suspension and expulsion; (3) legal parameters under the…

Guidelines, based on the California Education Code and the California Community College Student Attendance Accounting Manual, are presented as an aid to program-level administrators and staff preparing for a state audit of program attendance records. After introductory material examining the role of average daily attendance (ADA) and weekly…

This paper includes a discussion of South Carolina's 1988 amendment to the law regulating home schooling instruction. A brief history of the law and the amendment is provided. Prior to the passage of the amendment, the State Board of Education approved home instruction programs. The amendment specifies: (1) procedures for application; (2)…

While the impact of schools in colonial America was soft before the mid-eighteenth century, devotion to education was strong and self-evident. By the early nineteenth century, schooling was well on its way to becoming universal for most children. As the nineteenth century wore on, the state became more and more involved in schooling. As taxation…

The nationwide phenomenon of home instruction is meeting resistance from state compulsory school attendance laws, resulting in many court cases in recent years. Parents who choose to teach their children at home may do so on moral or religious grounds, or because they consider public schools too conservative or traditional. State compulsory…

Five models are postulated for interpreting the three historical stages in the development of compulsory schooling in the United States. These three stages include (1) a symbolic stage where compulsory public school education began to gain strength but lacked enforcement procedures, (2) a bureaucratic phase beginning around 1900 where new…

Recent literature demonstrates the need for closer examination of general track curriculum students' experiences in order to increase high school graduation rates. General track students' reactions to school policies and practices governing extracurricular activities and attendance are described in this report. A case study methodology involved…

This paper examines the case law that deals with the issuance of student grades, and reviews most of the reported cases dealing with the lowering of students' grades for non-academic misconduct and the use of grades to exclude students from school. School officials have been known to act arbitrarily when issuing grades to students. It is…

Home schooling, the educational alternative in which parents (or guardians) assume the primary responsibility for the education of their children, when responsibly done, is legally protected by the United States Constitution; however, home educators face a conglomeration of regulations, statutes, and laws. Home schools are regulated by individual…

The individual rights of students as revealed in federal court decisions are surveyed and summarized. Following a brief outline of the overall judicial approach, using the Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School District court case as an example, the document is arranged into two major parts. Part 1 examines compulsory attendance laws, dress and…

This paper presents management considerations for planning an in-school suspension program applicable to handicapped students and reviews relevant court rulings affecting formation of suspension and expulsion policies. The Supreme Court's 1975 decision in "Wood v. Strickland" established that a student cannot be deprived of the right of…

While the legal question of what constitutes a private school--and whether home schools can continue to operate as such--remains a matter to be resolved by the courts or further legislation, a separate question remains: What should be the role and relationship of home schools to the educational network of the future? Economically and…