First Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book explores parents' legal rights concerning their children's elementary and secondary education. Besides certain constitutional rights (including parents' right to direct their children's education), parents and students have been granted various rights under state and federal statutes. This book aims to demystify the law and provide parents with the necessary knowledge to assert their rights (outside the court system) and bring violations to the attention of teachers, administrators, and other parents so that their children receive an appropriate education. Following a brief overview of parents' rights, chapters 2 through 6 discuss rights derived from the Constitution, including a student's right to fair treatment by a school disciplinary system, First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and press, freedom of religion and separation of church and state, and equal educational opportunity. Chapters 7 through 9 focus on the common law and state control of education, covering compensation for injured children, damages collection for poor teaching, and conflicts between parent and state education agencies. Chapter 10 treats parents' rights concerning school records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Chapter 11 discusses federal law governing rights of parents of children with special education needs, highlighting the Education for All Children Act of 1975. Chapter 12 concerns physical appearance (proper dress), while chapter 13 confronts the rights of poor and non-English-speaking parents and children. The final chapter covers legal literacy for parents. Three appendices provide constitutional amendments of special relevance to parents and students, legal research hints, and two Supreme Court decisions. Also included are a table of cases, chapter endnotes, and an index. (MLH)

Aimed at parents of and advocates for special needs children, explains how to develop a relationship with a school, monitor a child's progress, understand relevant legislation, and document correspondence and conversations.

CHILDREN, PARENTS AND THE LAW: Public and Private Authority in the Home, Schools, and Juvenile Courts offers the perfect balance of perspective and coverage for your child-focused law course. This highly teachable book is also ideal for child-focused

Written by the Senior Counsel of the Home School Legal Defense Association, this book is useful both to interested parents, who are often unaware of the extent of their rights and unsure where to turn for help, and to attorneys who represent them. It discusses the legislative and judicial histories of home schooling and it provides a clear picture of the impediments often placed in the way of those who wish to home school by local school officials. In addition to discussing the rights and legal recourses available to those parents, The Right to Home School also summarizes the statutory trend to deregulate home schooling, thereby encouraging families to continue this highly successful form of education.

[This text] teaches you how to use the law as your sword and your shield. Learn what the law says about: Child's right to a free, appropriate education (FAPE); Individual education programs, IEP teams, transition and progress; Evaluations, reevaluations, consent and independent educational evaluations; Eligibility and placement decisions; Least restrictive environment, mainstreaming, and inclusion; Research based instruction, discrepancy formulas and response to intervention; Discipline, suspensions, and expulsions; Safeguards, mediation, confidentiality, new procedures and timelines for due process hearings.--Back cover.

In recent decades a growing number of middle-class parents have considered sending their children to—and often end up becoming active in—urban public schools. Their presence can bring long-needed material resources to such schools, but, as Linn Posey-Maddox shows in this study, it can also introduce new class and race tensions, and even exacerbate inequalities. Sensitively navigating the pros and cons of middle-class transformation, When Middle-Class Parents Choose Urban Schools asks whether it is possible for our urban public schools to have both financial security and equitable diversity. Drawing on in-depth research at an urban elementary school, Posey-Maddox examines parents’ efforts to support the school through their outreach, marketing, and volunteerism. She shows that when middle-class parents engage in urban school communities, they can bring a host of positive benefits, including new educational opportunities and greater diversity. But their involvement can also unintentionally marginalize less-affluent parents and diminish low-income students’ access to the improving schools. In response, Posey-Maddox argues that school reform efforts, which usually equate improvement with rising test scores and increased enrollment, need to have more equity-focused policies in place to ensure that low-income families also benefit from—and participate in—school change.