During the 2011-2012 school year, the U.S. Department of Education reported that kids with disabilities accounted for three-quarters of those who were physically restrained, and 58% of these students were placed in seclusion or some other form of involuntary confinement at schools across the country (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Students…

Social scientists' involvement with the legal system is critical for tackling inequities in education and informing legal developments in ways that are grounded in empirical realities that document the myriad ways race shapes educational opportunity and outcomes. This study examined the experiences of social scientists who have participated in…

Over the years, as states have sought to incorporate more inclusive and relevant academic standards and curriculum for K-12 students, they have interpreted ethnic studies in both broad and narrow terms. While most states use the term ethnic studies to describe their efforts to incorporate the knowledge and perspectives of traditionally excluded…

This article presents a qualitative study of how undocumented students experience a unique dimension of legal oppression in the U.S. that results in diminishing their hope in a country that they consider their home. Throughout this study and with the use of a Critical Legal Studies perspective, the author interrogates the role that U.S.…

The concept of an educator being legally literate began to be explored more in depth in 1963 when the first discussions began to occur around the need for greater legal literacy in the field of education. Though research has magnified the concern related to teachers and education administrators not being legally literate, not much has changed to…

In this paper, we examine the fundamental and complex role that time plays in the learning process. We begin by developing a conceptual framework to elucidate the multiple obstacles schools face in converting allocated time into learning time. We then synthesize the causal research and document a clear positive effect of time on student…

This article considers the exercise of statutory power by an Australian university, in the state of Victoria, when undertaking commercial activities that impact negatively on a local community. A single case study design is used to report on the process engaged in by the community and university to resolve this dispute. This includes consideration…

Teachers are tasked with the important role of educating and empowering the Nation's youth. Although teaching is a rewarding vocation, teachers are subjected to risk and liabilities on a daily basis. The rising number of school-based litigation and the litigious nature of today's society bolster the need for teachers to abide and understand the…

"Power, Constraint, and Policy Change" analyzes state court influence on state education finance reform. Beginning in the early 1970s litigants began filing suits in state courts to change state education funding in order to prevent disparities in education resources between wealthy and poor communities. These cases represent a…

The three terms comprising the Obama and Trump presidencies provide an opportunity to understand the evolution of race-conscious education policy in an increasingly multiracial, unequal, and divided society. Through document review and interviews with civil rights lawyers, government officials, congressional staffers, and intermediary organization…

This authoritative book examines the long-standing campaign that resulted in today's school voucher policies. Advocates of private school vouchers promulgated a vision of service to low-income families, students of color, and other marginalized student populations. Vouchers were sold as a way to advance civil rights. But as voucher policies grew…

The relationship between academic disciplines and teaching has been thoroughly investigated. However, most studies define disciplines by their epistemological properties and thereby overlook contextual and local interpretations of disciplines. This case study, based on in-depth interviews with nine academic lawyers, examines the interrelatedness…

This article reconstructs the phases of development of the history of education as a school subject and subject within the framework of the education of teachers at teacher training schools from 1869 onwards, and the presence of these contents at teacher training academies after 1960 and faculties of education after 1986. At the same time, it…

Free speech jurisprudence is caught between crediting the First Amendment rights of students when they resemble adults or restricting such rights when students seemingly act as children. In "Morse v. Frederick" (2007), the Supreme Court ruled against Joseph Frederick and his "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner because Frederick's speech…

The sociological literature on elite private schooling is frequently informed by Bourdieu's signature concepts of cultural, social and symbolic capital. Yet, his insistence that economic capital is the 'root' of these other capitals is often overlooked or downplayed. This paper addresses this lacuna. While it gestures to Bourdieu's other capitals,…