Discusses the effects on teacher salaries and employment practices of several Canadian provinces' cost-cutting measures; emphasizes British Columbia's "Public Restraint Act" and public employees' response to it. (MCG)

Discusses five areas of the school environment lending themselves to the possibility of teacher and student teacher liability: negligence, malpractice, rights to privacy, field trips, and search of students and school property. Suggests specific guidelines for decreasing the possibility of adverse legal action. (NEC)

Provides a brief quiz to test one's understanding of academic freedom. Reviews several court cases on teachers and academic freedom, highlighting the actions of the school, and outcomes of the cases. Includes suggestions for teachers for examining controversial issues in the classroom while accounting for the needs of all involved. (CMK)

Discusses censorship in public schools, noting how parents can help protect academic freedom. School districts must develop a policy for selection of instructional materials, and parents must be meaningfully involved in the selection. The public school's role in assuring a balanced curriculum with a free exchange of ideas is examined. (SM)

Before 1980, academic-freedom litigation favored teachers over school boards. As a 1998 case involving termination of a popular creative-writing teacher shows, today's judges rely on decision makers' judgement. Courts view academic freedom as the province of school boards and administrators, who determine how it is exercised. (MLH)

Both freedom of speech and freedom from discrimination are generally accepted expressions of public policy. The application of these policies, however, leads to conflicts that pose both practical and conceptual problems. This paper presents a review of court litigation and addresses the question of how to reconcile the conflicting societal goals…

How schools can effectively work with exceptional students who have communicable diseases was the focus of an eight-member Task Force appointed by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Governmental Relations Committee. Its report begins with an overview of existing guidelines and defines specific communicable diseases (Hepatitis B,…

This checklist is designed to reduce the prospect that a termination decision will be reversed in a grievance procedure, arbitration, state agency hearing, or court proceeding. The checklist is arranged under the following headings: (1) What is the real reason for considering firing this individual? (distinction between reduction-in-force and…

The freedom of teaching around 1935 is compared to academic freedom today. Unfortunately, today there remain serious restrictions on the freedom to teach and learn social studies. (RM)

The growing teacher shortage and increasing bureaucratization of schools make it imperative that new means be developed to make teaching more attractive as a profession. Teacher organizations, professional newsletters, informal discussion groups, networking, ad hoc pressure groups, and alternative schools might provide some route to reform. (KH)

This casebook intends to show young people that their rights, their way of life, and indeed sometimes their very life, can depend on one remarkable document, the Constitution of the United States. The casebook is about the United States Constitution and how the Supreme Court and lower courts have interpreted it to govern the lives of U.S. public…

Within the core of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) are a number of measures to hold states, school districts, schools, and school personnel more accountable for student progress. Summarizes state legislation and court cases concerning school administrators, tenure, collective bargaining, and personnel records. (Contains 32 references.) (MLF)

Explores whether using a review board to approve the use of a movie infringes on a teacher's right to academic freedom. Also examines, in the absence of such a policy, whether teachers can be disciplined for showing movies that some parents, board members, or administrators regard as inappropriate. (68 footnotes) (MLF)

The behavior management recommendations outlined in England and Wales' Elton Report are applied to schools for children with emotional/behavioral difficulties, especially Inglesea School. Inglesea School uses the principles of assertive discipline, which communicates specific behavioral expectations to students and rewards children for choosing to…

Proposes categories of teacher ability that make it possible to increase Soviet teacher salaries depending on the results of certification, seniority, and class size. Urges economic motivation as an incentive to attract better candidates to the teaching profession. Criticizes the present practice of awarding salary increases for length of service,…