Historically, private education has been an option mostly for families who could afford the cost or received financial help. Years of research have shown that many families would choose private schools and other educational resources for their children if they did not face insurmountable financial or geographical limitations. Private educational…

Arguably the most strongly promoted approach by voucher advocates is a new form of government subsidy for private education, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Parents are provided a set sum which they can use for a variety of educational services including private school tuition and fees, online courses, extracurricular activities and private…

College students who reside in campus dormitories at public universities have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their dorm rooms that is protected by the fourth amendment; and officials cannot search these rooms for law enforcement purposes without a valid warrant. Non-students, however, have no such reasonable expectation of privacy in…

Some private, religious schools that accept vouchers have been accused of discriminating against certain populations of students through their admissions processes. Discriminating against disfavored groups (e.g., racial minorities, LGBT students, students with disabilities, religious minorities) in voucher programs raises both legal and policy…

This research examined the knowledge of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America possessed by teachers in two secondary high schools in East Tennessee. Additionally, an attempt to evaluate the relationship between church attendance in protestant evangelical churches and the teacher's ability to address church/state…

Recent Tennessee and Alabama court decisions raise similar issues involving (1) fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment and (2) the process of public education. Outlines the effects these decisions have on teachers and in classrooms. The supporters would suppress critical thinking and imagination while opponents would promote critical…

Discusses "Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools" (Tennessee), a case involving a controversial reading textbook offending fundamentalist parents of six middle school children. The Court of Appeals reversed a district court ruling, holding that uniform use of the Holt textbook was not essential to the state's goals to teach reading.…

Describes two federal court cases concerning objections to public school textbooks. In "Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County," parents attempted to eliminate objectionable content from textbooks through the Establishment Clause. In "Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools," parents wanted to remove children…

Designed for middle school through high school students, this unit contains eight lesson plans that focus on Tennessee state law. The state lessons correspond to lessons in the volume, "Antidote: Civic Responsibility. Drug Avoidance Lessons for Middle School & High School Students." Developed to be presented by educators, law…

The application of constitutional principles of desegregation, derived from the context of primary and secondary education, to the postsecondary education setting, is addressed in the second of eight reports from the Postsecondary Desegregation Project at Vanderbilt University. The role of the U.S. Department of Education in enforcing the…