Past U.S. Supreme Court rulings have held that schools and school employees must be careful to engage in religious activities while at school that could appear to endorse a particular religion above others or coerce students to engage in religious activities. However, the June 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District opinion suggests that the…

Many public charter schools in the state of Hawaii are explicitly religious. For more than two decades, students at Hawaiian-focused schools have offered chants and prayers to the pantheon of gods who rule over skies, seas, and earth, including to the volcanic god, Pelehonuamea ("she who shapes the sacred land"), popularly known as Madam…

A meta-analysis, including 13 studies, was undertaken on the relationship between the exercise of student prayer and academic and behavioral outcomes in urban schools. Analyses both with and without sophisticated controls (e.g., socioeconomic status, race, and gender) were used. Additional analyses were done to determine whether the effects of…

Xenophobic, racist, and linguistically hegemonic discourses undermine the common good in our pluralistic communities. This article focuses on how these discourses adversely affect one subset of the population in the United States -- those who are culturally and linguistically diverse -- and how schools can disrupt this. Specifically, it explores…

Anecdotal evidence implies that students use library spaces for spiritual practices at many colleges and universities. Using focus groups, the authors investigated students' prayer behaviors on four regional campuses of a large research university, asking questions about students' frequency of prayer, campus areas used for devotions, and students'…

What are the linguistic resources for teachers who pray in contemporary Catholic school classrooms? This article considers the intersections of prayer and language practice, and makes central two arguments. The first is that educational prayer--a particular type of teacher-led extemporaneous prayer in Catholic schools--is a linguistic phenomenon,…

The twin uncertainties of the pandemic and the economic downturn have taken a toll on our Catholic schools. Yet reports across the country are that Catholic schools have been very successful in remote learning. Although there are well-documented efforts to define the values of Catholic schools, these values are not fully known and there is still…

Student and teacher wellbeing are now a prominent concern within education systems internationally. Meditation and mindfulness programs form part of the response to addressing this. Research and practice to date has focused on the benefits of such interventions for students "or" teachers, despite considerable evidence of connections…

The United States Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist. held that a local school district violated the First Amendment freedom of religious expression rights when it directed an assistant football coach to stop praying on the fifty-yard line of a high school football field after each game. In finding for the high-school football coach,…

Many Americans are familiar with the First Amendment, but its application to prayer and religious activities in public schools is often misunderstood. Religious beliefs are increasingly diverse in the United States. Therefore, it seems imperative that school personnel are aware of the law and sensitive to an array of religious practices. We…

This study is related to the perception of Islamic Education teachers on their teaching practices in the Qur'an recitation skills due to the national primary schools under the administration of Education Ministry. A total of 120 Islamic Education teachers were involved as respondents in this study. They were randomly selected from ten districts in…

Studies suggest that between one-fourth and one-third of localities elect their leaders on partisan ballots. Does the presence of a party label on the ballot affect the level of partisanship in local office? I leverage the fact that within select states, school boards vary as to whether their members are elected on partisan or nonpartisan ballots.…

Survival for public school teachers goes beyond curriculum design, discipline and other skills. School law is critical for teachers to face the areas of challenge that are currently present. There are two types of common legal mistakes made by teachers: a) failing to take disciplinary action when they should, and b) unintentionally violating…

Sport and religion have been linked in many societies and are still a part of many traditions today. In recent years, the topic of prayer in interscholastic sport has received public attention due to many high-profile court cases. "Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe" (2000) was the landmark case that prohibited school officials,…

This article draws on a survey conducted with primary school trainee teachers in a university in England. The survey set out to investigate their knowledge, understanding and their view about the role that Collective Worship (CW) plays in schools. A sample of 125 participants contributed to the findings of this inquiry by completing a…