Education Law Commons^™

The Promises And Pitfalls Of Teacher Evaluation And Accountability Reform, Benjamin Michael Superfine

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This chapter examines the recent wave of laws aimed at enhancing teacher evaluation and accountability, and recommends strategies for moving forward in a way that holds greater promise for providing students with more equal and greater educational opportunities. First, this chapter provides a historical overview of the legal landscape governing the primary functions of the teacher workforce. Second, the major characteristics of this new wave of laws are examined. Third, the strengths and potential pitfalls entailed by these laws are analyzed in light of educational research. Finally, this chapter offers recommendations for improving teacher evaluation and accountability laws in a …

Literacy, Poverty, And Brain Development: Toward A New, Place-Based Educational Intervention, Michael R. Hilton

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This paper provides an overview of emerging research focused on how living in an area of concentrated poverty can impact brain development and explores some possible applications of this research to education policy. One of the key findings is that state and federal policy-makers may need to adopt programs that integrate educational policy with housing and planning policy in order to protect and fulfill each child's educational rights. In order to impress upon readers the scale of the nation's current educational failures and the need for a significant change in policy, this paper first addresses adult illiteracy in the United …

Washington State's Mandate: The Constitutional Obligation To Fund Post-Secondary Education, Adam Sherman, Hugh Spitzer

Washington Law Review Online

This essay focuses on the provisions of the Washington State Constitution that address post-secondary education. It argues that, understood in the historical context in which those sections were drafted, Washington has a constitutional obligation to support and fund its institutions of higher learning. The essay describes the historical development of education systems in the United States, with particular attention paid to the funding of those systems. It then shows that (1) the language of Articles IX and XIII of Washington’s constitution are closely related, (2) Article IX’s “general and uniform system of public schools” was meant to include both normal …

Advocates, Federal Agencies, And The Education Of Children With Disabilities, Eloise Pasachoff

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The aim of this essay, prepared for a symposium on dispute resolution in special education held at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in February 2014, is to highlight ways that advocates for children with disabilities can use federal agencies to improve the implementation and enforcement of federal laws protecting children with disabilities in schools—that is, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act as it relates to schools.

One can spend a lot of time engaging with the contemporary public conversation about the law surrounding …

Agency Enforcement Of Spending Clause Statutes: A Defense Of The Funding Cut-Off, Eloise Pasachoff

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article contends that federal agencies ought more frequently to use the threat of cutting off funds to state and local grantees that are not adequately complying with the terms of a grant statute. Scholars tend to offer four arguments to explain—and often to justify—agencies’ longstanding reluctance to engage in funding cut-offs: first, that funding cut-offs will hurt the grant program’s beneficiaries and so will undermine the agency’s ultimate goals; second, that federalism concerns counsel against federal agencies’ taking funds away from state and local grantees; third, that agencies are neither designed nor motivated to pursue funding cut-offs; and fourth, …

Vergara V.State Of California:Judicial Aboliton Of Teacher Tenure?, Perry A. Zirkel

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Education Rights And The New Due Process, Areto A. Imoukuede

Journal Publications

This Article argues for a human dignity-based, due process clause analysis to recognize the fundamental duty of government to provide high quality, public education. Access to public education is a fundamental duty, or positive fundamental right because education is a basic human need and a constituent part of all democratic rights. In The Fifth Freedom, I argued that there is a fundamental duty under the U.S. Constitution to provide public education and that the reason a fundamental right to public education has not been recognized is because of a profound confusion regarding fundamental rights as duties.' The Court is biased …

Thinking Hard About 'Race-Neutral' Admissions, Richard H. Sander, Aaron Danielson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Our exploration is organized as follows. In Part I, we sympathetically consider the very difficult dilemmas facing higher education leaders. Understanding the often irreconcilable pressures that constrain university administrators is essential if we are to envision the plausible policies they might undertake. In Part II, we draw on a range of data to illustrate some of the “properties” of admissions systems and, in particular, the ways in which race, SES, and academic preparation interact dynamically both within individual schools and across the educational spectrum. Partly because the questions we examine here have been so little studied, ideal data does not …

The 'Compelling Government Interest' In School Diversity: Rebuilding The Case For An Affirmative Government Role, Philip Tegeler

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

How far does Justice Kennedy’s “moral and ethical obligation” to avoid racial isolation extend? Does the obligation flow primarily from Supreme Court case law, does it derive from an evolving consensus in the social sciences, or does it also have a statutory basis in Title VI and other federal law? In addition to its value as a justification for non-individualized, race-conscious remedial efforts by state and local governments, does the compelling interest identified in Parents Involved also suggest an affirmative duty on the part of the federal government? And if so, how far does this affirmative duty extend, and how …

The Legacy And Implications Of San Antonio Independent School District V. Rodriguez, Charles J. Ogletree Jr.

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

The Supreme Court's school desegregation case law has been a confusing maze of fits and starts. In 1954, a unanimous Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that education "must be made available to all on equal terms." Yet, less than 20 years later, the Court found a Texas education financing plan that allowed for significant differences in funding between school districts to be constitutional. This Article examines that decision, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, in more detail. It also discusses the case's legacy and numerous unresolved issues that still impact the Latino community today. Part II …

It Takes A Federalist Village: A Revitalized Property Tax As The Linchpin For Stable, Effective K-12 Public Education Funding, Mildred Wigfall Robinson

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Public education in the United States is a big business. In the fall of 2011, more than 55.5 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade were expected to enroll in the nation's public schools at a total cost of $599,145,678,000. Though it is a service provided by local governments, its cost is borne by local, state, and, to a more limited extent, federal taxpayers. Providing public education is a massive undertaking and no one level of government can solely bear its cost. Governmental revenue sources, from which allocated shares of expense are presently borne, differ. Local funding is provided predominately …

The Promises And Pitfalls Of Teacher Evaluation And Accountability Reform, Benjamin Michael Superfine

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This chapter examines the recent wave of laws aimed at enhancing teacher evaluation and accountability, and recommends strategies for moving forward in a way that holds greater promise for providing students with more equal and greater educational opportunities. First, this chapter provides a historical overview of the legal landscape governing the primary functions of the teacher workforce. Second, the major characteristics of this new wave of laws are examined. Third, the strengths and potential pitfalls entailed by these laws are analyzed in light of educational research. Finally, this chapter offers recommendations for improving teacher evaluation and accountability laws in a …

Literacy, Poverty, And Brain Development: Toward A New, Place-Based Educational Intervention, Michael R. Hilton

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This paper provides an overview of emerging research focused on how living in an area of concentrated poverty can impact brain development and explores some possible applications of this research to education policy. One of the key findings is that state and federal policy-makers may need to adopt programs that integrate educational policy with housing and planning policy in order to protect and fulfill each child's educational rights. In order to impress upon readers the scale of the nation's current educational failures and the need for a significant change in policy, this paper first addresses adult illiteracy in the United …

In Defense Of Idea Due Process, Mark Weber

College of Law Faculty

Due Process hearing rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are under attack. A major professional group and several academic commentators charge that the hearings system advantages middle class parents, that it is expensive, that it is futile, and that it is unmanageable. Some critics would abandon individual rights to a hearing and review in favor of bureaucratic enforcement or administrative mechanisms that do not include the right to an individual hearing before a neutral decision maker. This Article defends the right to a due process hearing. It contends that some criticisms of hearing rights are simply erroneous, and …

The Law Comes To Campus: The Evolution And Current Role Of The Office Of The General Counsel On College And University Campuses, Jason A. Block

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Much has been written in the literature of higher education on the history and current role of presidents, provosts, and deans. However, higher education scholars have, for the most part ignored the role of institutional in-house attorneys on college and university campuses. Those who have written on the subject of institutional counsel have proffered the idea that in-house general counsel offices were established as a result of the increased regulation of higher education by state and federal governments, and litigation resulting from the faculty and student rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. This project seeks to provide a detailed …

Now Children Learn Better: Revising Nclb To Promote Teacher Effectiveness In Student Development, Chris Chambers Goodman

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Should States Ban The Use Of Non-Positive Interventions In Special Education? Re-Examining Positive Behavior Supports Under The Idea, Elizabeth Shaver

Akron Law Faculty Publications

In the 1980s and 1990s, behavior analysts vigorously debated ethical concerns about the use of certain behavioral interventions to address severe behavior of disabled children. In 1997, while that debate was still ongoing, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was amended to require educators to consider the use of “positive behavioral interventions and supports,” among other strategies, to address problem behavior that impedes a disabled child’s learning. Since 1997, the “positive behavioral interventions and supports” framework has shifted focus, but IDEA’s language essentially has stayed the same. In addition, some states have enacted poorly-worded statutes or regulations in order …

The Absence Of Parenting Students’ Rights: How And Why Title Ix Tolerates Discriminatory Attendance Policies, Elizabeth M. Hady

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the gaps in Title IX protections for parenting students, particularly female students, and highlights how societal stigma and discursive frameworks undermine their rights. It argues that while Title IX prohibits sex discrimination, its implementation often fails to address the unique challenges faced by parenting students, especially mothers, who are disproportionately affected by rigid attendance policies and discriminatory attitudes. The analysis emphasizes the role of "contamination discourse," which stigmatizes teenage mothers as irresponsible and a threat to societal morals, further eroding their legal protections and perpetuating inequality in education.

The Ohio State University Dispute Resolution In Special Education Symposium Panel, Robert Dinerstein

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Room For Me? - An Analysis Of Whether Mediation Is A Viable Solution To School Bullying, Angelique Palmer

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Article will review recent efforts to utilize mediation as a solution to bullying, and evaluate whether common approaches to its use and implementation have proven to be an effective solution to the bullying epidemic. Part I of this Article provides an overview of bullying and the current state of the problem in America today. Part II discusses the current legal climate and underlying motivations in legislative change and development. It goes on to offer a synopsis of the state of the law and the scope of its reach to address and remedy the problem of bullying. Part III offers …