Education Law Commons^™

Accreditation Under Fire: How Striking A Balance Between Accreditor Accountability And Autonomy Can Strengthen Educational Quality, Tyler J. Bishoff

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Risky Sexual Behavior -- The "Broken Windows" Of Sexual Assault: A Proposal For Universities To Incorporate Targeted Intervention To Bridge The Gap Between Sexual Assault Prevention And Response, Dominic Angiollo

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Free Expression On Campus: Mitigating The Costs Of Contentious Speakers, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

“If you’re afraid to offend, you can’t be honest.”

“If you offend me, I can’t hear what you’re trying to tell me.”

—overheard on campus

The debate over how colleges and universities should respond to contentious guest speakers on campus is not a new one. A quick look back to the early 1990s, among other times, shows commentators squaring off much as they do today about the tensions between protecting free expression and ensuring meaningful equality.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the issues that contested speakers address are also much the same as they have been for several decades – government action …

Realizing Restorative Justice: Legal Rules And Standards For School Discipline Reform, Lydia Nussbaum

Scholarly Works

Zero-tolerance school disciplinary policies stunt the future of school children across the United States. These policies, enshrined in state law, prescribe automatic and mandatory suspension, expulsion, and arrest for infractions ranging from minor to serious. Researchers find that zero-tolerance policies disproportionately affect low-income, minority children and correlate with poor academic achievement, high drop-out rates, disaffection and alienation, and greater contact with the criminal justice system, a phenomenon christened the "School-to-Prison Pipeline."

A promising replacement for this punitive disciplinary regime derives from restorative justice theory and, using a variety of different legal interventions, reform advocates and lawmakers have tried to institute …

No Excuses For Charter Schools: How Disproportionate Discipline Of Students With Disabilities Violates Federal Law, Johanna F. Roberts

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Dream Still Deferred: The Unlawful Use Of Student Fees For Instructional Technology In An Alabama Public School Causing A Disparate Impact For Minority Children, Taurus Myhand

Scholarly Works

In framing the United States Constitution, the public education mandate was reserved for the states to strengthen, not weaken, the efforts of the governments to provide an education for the people. However, there are far too many instances where equal access to educational opportunities is still a dream deferred for many racial and ethnic minority children that are enrolled in public school systems throughout the United States. That is particularly the case for racial and ethnic minority students at one public school system in Alabama. This Note explores the constitutional issues raised by Pike Road School System’s use of mandatory …

Schooling At Risk, Barbara A. Fedders

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Advocacy In Ideas: Legal Education And Social Movements, Monica Bell, Tanya K. Hernandez, Solangel Maldonado, Rachelle Perkins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Post-Accountability Accountability, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

Over the past few decades, parental choice has exploded in the United States. Yet, despite early proponents’ hopes that parental choice would eliminate the need to regulate school quality—since parents’ choices would serve an accountability function—demands to use the law to hold chosen schools accountable for their academic performance are central features of education-reform debates today. This is an opportune time to consider the issue of academic accountability and parental choice. Parental choice has gained a firm foothold in the American educational landscape. As it continues to expand, debates about accountability for chosen schools will only intensify. The questions of …

Taxpayers For Public Education V. Douglas County School District: The School Choice Movement Soldiers On, Bryce Carlson

University of Colorado Law Review

For nearly a decade, the school choice movement in Colorado has hung in the balance as the fate of the Douglas County School District Choice Scholarship Program worked its way through the courts, even reaching the United States Supreme Court in the process. The main issue at stake was whether Article IX, § 7 of the Colorado Constitution, which prevents public institutions from making any appropriation to a "church or sectarian society," barred students from using a school district scholarship to attend a private religiously affiliated school.

The Colorado Supreme Court in 2015 ruled that the Choice Scholarship Program indeed …

Trinity Lutheran And The Future Of Educational Choice: Implications For State Blaine Amendments, Richard D. Komer

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Silence Of Speech: Academic Safe Spaces, The Free Speech Critique, And The Solution Of Free Association, Trevor N. Ward

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Safeguarding The Future Of Bangladeshi Children: The Need For A Comprehensive National Educational System, Samantha A. Barach

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)—the human rights treaty ratified by the most States Parties—is binding international law which enumerates the rights guaranteed to all children worldwide. Despite the widespread ratification of the CRC, many countries lack the proper legislation and agencies to ensure that these rights are afforded to all children. One such country is Bangladesh. A relatively new country, Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971 and was one of the first twenty countries to ratify the CRC. Notwithstanding this eagerness to promote children’s rights, Bangladeshi children suffer from a high level of abuse …

Baking Common Sense Into The Ferpa Cake: How To Meaningfully Protect Student Rights And The Public Interest, Zach Greenberg, Adam Goldstein

Journal of Legislation

No abstract provided.

The Miseducation Of Welfare Reform: Denying The Promise Of Postsecondary Education, Rebekah J. Smith, Luisa S. Deprez, Sandra S. Butler

Maine Law Review

When Congress enacted “welfare reform” in 1996, decades of progress in assisting low-income mothers obtain a college education in order to escape poverty was nearly eradicated. The federal welfare reform law strongly discouraged states from incorporating postsecondary education into their welfare reform programs and focused instead on “work-first” policies. As a direct result, hundreds of thousands of low-income mothers across the country were forced to drop out of college and find jobs in order to comply with strict “work-first” welfare rules. Despite the pressure imposed by the federal law, the State of Maine persevered in its effort to make college …

No “Gift” Giving Here: The Inadequate Gifted Education Programs In New York State And The Need For Gifted Education Reform, Jamie M. Kautz

Journal of Law and Policy

Gifted Education is a topic that is often not at the forefront of educational issues throughout federal and state discussions and legislative actions. However, while there are a large number of students in classrooms across the country who are “gifted,” the number of individual states with comprehensive gifted programs within their public school districts is small. As a result, gifted programming is limited and gifted students are not guaranteed any sort of academic assistance beyond that of a standard classroom curriculum for their designated grade levels. More importantly, in the majority of states, including New York, the legal protections offered …

Efficacy Of North Haven’S Response To Intervention In Reducing Over-Identification Of Specific Learning Disabilities, Karyn B. Gallagher

EDL Sixth Year Theses

In 2006, a reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act led to changes in how the state of Connecticut determined special education eligibility for a student with a specific learning disability. The Response to Intervention (RTI) approach replaced of the discrepancy model in making this determination. This retrospective case study looked at the perceptions of North Haven Staff on the efficacy of the RTI process in reducing the over-identification of students with specific learning disabilities. A mixed-methods survey was administered to 337 professionals in North Haven, CT. Of the 86 responses received, 73 were determined to be useful …

Barriers To Higher Education: Underrepresented Minorities' Access To Uci, Kimberly Dennin

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Ever since the removal of Affirmative Action in California from Proposition 209, the UC system has struggled with increasing the enrollment numbers of underrepresented minorities on their campuses. In response to this, many of the UC schools are adopting different policies to help counteract the negative effects of Proposition 209. This paper examines the effects of Proposition 209 on the underrepresented minority population in the UC system, specifically focusing on the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The areas of focus for addressing the issues of Proposition 209 at UCI are outreach programs, admissions policies, and recruitment programs. This paper examines …

Universal Design: Stop Banning Laptops!, Ruth Colker

Cardozo Law Review

The article argues that banning laptops in university classrooms, particularly in law schools, is unnecessary and counterproductive. The author advocates for a permissive laptop policy as part of Universal Design principles, which aim to create inclusive learning environments. While acknowledging concerns about distractions and note-taking effectiveness, the author presents empirical data suggesting that laptop use does not harm academic performance and can benefit students with disabilities without stigmatizing them.

Piloting Personhood: Reflections From The First Year Of A Supported Decision-Making Project, Kristin Booth Glen

Cardozo Law Review

The amazing Symposium on Personhood and Civic Engagement by People with Disabilities included a variety of perspectives: legal, cultural, historical, philosophical, and educational, including a panel on "Legal Barriers to Personhood" from which this article was derived. Despite legal analysis, theory, and even description, there was little "in the weeds" discussion of how personhood can actually be protected and preserved for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD).1 Locating personhood within the human right of legal capacity, and positing guardianship in diametric opposition, this Article attempts to describe some of the lessons I have learned in the first year of …