Stated as a legal constitutional issue the question is, Do affirmative action programs that embody some form of preferential treatment of selected groups resulting in possible quotas constitute reverse discrimination in violation of basic constitutional rights? This issue represents one of the most fundamental questions for our society that the…

A discussion of the two legal traditions illuminates this comparison of student rights in common and civil law nations. The United States is among a minority of nations that use common law, a complex system cluttered with processes difficult to explain and loaded with protections for defendents in both criminal and civil cases. In American common…

Although extending constitutional protection to commercial expression might benefit the consumer, the First Amendment is the wrong instrument for carrying out what are basically economic policies. While in most First Amendment cases the nature of the content determines whether it is constitutionally protected, advertising is distinct in that it…

Exemption 1 of the Freedom of Information Act provides for the secret classification of matters that are "specifically required by Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of the national defense or foreign policy." As such, it provides a formidable barrier to the inquisitive citizen or Congress seeking the disclosure of secret…

This paper examines the relationship between constitutional courts and educational policy in Australia, the United States, and West Germany in an attempt to formulate a statement describing the relative impact of state and federal governments on educational policy in countries with a federal system of government. Much of the paper discusses the…

This paper assesses efforts undertaken to promote teaching and learning about the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights during the years leading up to and including the bicentennial celebrations of these two documents. The assessment focuses on three specific topics: (1) patterns of content coverage; (2) materials for teachers and students; and…

Research about United States Supreme Court rulings, which affect public school policy, has largely disregarded the fact that the Constitution makes no direct reference to education. A method is outlined that may be of use to educational policy makers as they seek to respond to these rulings. The case of "New Jersey v. T.L.O." (469 U.S.,…

In 1988, California voters passed a constitutional ballot initiative, Proposition 98, that required local districts to publish School Accountability Report Cards containing information on specific school characteristics. This study documents some key events leading to the passage of Proposition 98 and the subsequent implementation of the report…

From a legal perspective, teacher evaluations can be a school's most valuable tool when administrators need to pursue or defend personnel actions. The first step in a practical evaluation process is to determine the evaluation's purpose, and the second is to determine what is to be evaluated. Evaluations should focus on factors that actually…

This document reviews the results of a study of five Ohio Supreme Court cases concerning the equalization of property assessments among the various classes of real property: commercial, industrial, residential, and agricultural. Each of the decisions--occurring between 1964 and 1980, and involving the Park Investment Company--is briefly summarized…

Areas of liability that relate to the daily practice of continuing education professionals are summarized. Areas of the law with the greatest potential for litigation involving the institution and its employees are identified, along with 16 preventive measures that protect the educational practitioner and institution from frivolous litigation yet…

In the 1940s two congeries of events brought the federal government into the field of education, an area that had previously been protected from federal interference. At the core of one group of events was a 1937 decision that the "general welfare clause" was established as an independent ground for the federal spending power. A second change came…

Significant changes in United States culture during the past 25 years and court decisions resulting from legal suits challenging traditional educational procedures have made the future course of education very unpredictable. The social unrest of the 1960s brought about innovations such as open classrooms and nongrading systems in the wake of…

The issue of the proper role of government in the censorship of sexually explicit material is analyzed in this article from a symbolic interactionist view of communication and traditional principles of constitutional liberty. The paper focuses on the Supreme Court's adjudication of obscenity cases and proposes a set of principles consistent with…

This paper is a presentation, in outline form, of the development of the "quasi-nonpublic forum," where cases involving student free speech push the envelope of what is acceptable under Constitutional law and what is appropriate/acceptable student behavior under constraints set by school regulations. Context is set by presenting court…