Education Commons^™

The Supreme Court And Education Law, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Compiling a “top 10” list of anything— including Supreme Court cases and justices’ quotes—can be fraught with differences of opinion. Yet discussions about those differences can be useful learning activities, because they can lead to conversations about the underlying legal issues in schools. With that caveat in mind, this column offers key quotes from major Supreme Court cases that played major, even transformational, roles in shaping the landscape of U.S. K–12 education. The quotes are accompanied by brief summaries of why the cases are significant. With the exception of Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas (1954), the most important …

An Overview Of The Every Student Succeeds Act, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Controversial since becoming law in 2002 as the re-authorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has been portrayed by critics as federal overreach in education, even as supporters viewed the bill as a necessary reform to improve the academic performance of students in K–12 schools. Regardless, NCLB proved so unwieldy that 43 states and the District of Columbia received waivers from many of its accountability provisions in return for adopting policies favored by the U.S. Department of Education (Layton 2015).

The recent seven-year-overdue re-authorization of the law received widespread bipartisan support …

Gravissimum Educationis: Golden Opportunities In American Catholic Education 50 Years After Vatican Ii, Gerald M. Cattaro, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Gravissimus Educationis: Golden Opportunities in American Catholic Education 50 Years after Vatican II reviews the development of American Catholic schools since the promulgation of Gravissimus Educationis, the only document on education produced by the Ecumenical Council known as Vatican II. This document literally translated as “The Importance of Education,” addresses how extremely vital Catholic education, in particular, is in modern life.

Cattaro and Russo also reflect on changes that have transpired since the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore of 1884. This council forever changed the shape of nonpublic education in the United States in its decree that all parishes …

Respect For Me But Not For Thee: Reflections On The Impact Of Same-Sex Marriage On Education, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Examples of the ramifications of same-sex marriage in education are beginning to emerge whether in K-12 public or non-public schools or higher education. In K-12 schools, controversies have surfaced over whether school officials can use gay friendly curricular material for young children, 15 whether religiously affiliated non-public schools are obligated to enroll children who are being raised by couples in same-sex unions, 16 and whether students can bring same-sex dates to proms. 17 In like manner, disputes have arisen in higher education, particularly in the context of graduate counseling programs where two students unsuccessfully challenged their dismissals for professing their …

Same-Sex Marriage And Public School Curricula: Preserving Parental Rights To Direct The Education Of Their Children, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court And Pledge Of Allegiance: Does God Still Have A Place In American Schools?, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The dearth of statistical or anecdotal evidence aside, combined with the relative lack of reported litigation, it appears that most students and teachers regularly participate in perhaps the most common daily school ritual by joining in the patriotic recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (Pledge) and the salute to the American Flag. Yet, as discussed throughout this article, this daily practice has had a history of controversy, whether in schools or political settings.

Turning specifically to schools, in Newdow v. United States Congress (Newdow), the Ninth Circuit set off a firestorm of controversy when, in a case from California, it …