Assessment equity concerns all educational authorities and practitioners. When educators consider issues of equity, their predominant concern is accommodation of students with special needs, cultural issues, and creating alternative assessment activities that have equivalence to standard activities, so as not to advantage or disadvantage any…

This report from the United States Commission on Civil Rights focuses specifically on the efforts of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce Title II, Subtitle A of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability by public entities such as state and local governments. The report evaluates DOJ's…

This report from the United States Commission on Civil Rights focuses specifically on the efforts of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) to enforce Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability in employment. The report evaluates and analyzes EEOC's regulations and policies…

An overview is presented of litigation in which courts have interpreted educational employees' rights to nondiscriminatory treatment and employers' obligations to ensure equal employment opportunities. Because of the range, volume, and complexity of the litigation in this area, the intent is to identify applicable legal principles rather than to…

School board members generally understand the ramifications of the open meeting and public records of their states; however, they may not know whether their use of e-mail is subject to these laws. Legally, e-mail has as much potential exposure to liability as any other communication subject to the state open-meeting law, or as any unprivileged…

This chapter reviews legislation and court litigation during 1986 that addressed the rights of handicapped students and employees. The most far-reaching legal activity occurred in the legislative arena, with the passage in 1986 of the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) mandating that services must be available for handicapped children between…