Objectives:

When you finish studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Describe the organization and functioning of the state and federal court systems.
2. Identify the ways state and federal laws affect school district policies and classroom teaching.
3. Identify and describe teachers' most important rights with respect to certification and teacher testing; employment contracts; tenure, contracts, and probation; dismissal and due process; negotiation and strikes; protection against assaults; freedom of expression; and academic freedom.
4. Identify and describe teachers' most important responsibilities with respect to general exemplary behavior, tort liability and negligence, reporting of child abuse, and copyright laws.
5. Identify and describe students' most important rights with respect to freedom of expression, suspension and expulsion, protection from violence, search and seizure, classroom discipline and corporal punishment, sexual harassment, compulsory attendance, home schooling, nonpublic school attendance, and standardized testing.
6. Identify and describe students' most important responsibilities, as well as general limitations on their behavior in schools.
7. Identify and analyze issues and court decisions regarding religious activities in public schools, religious objections to curriculum, and public support for nonpublic schools.

Focus and Refocus Questions:

When you finish studying this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions from your textbook:

Focus Questions

• What legal rights and responsibilities do teachers have?
• What are the legal rights of students?
• Can religious activities be conducted in the public schools?
• Can the government assist nonpublic schools?

Refocus Questions

• Did the preceding material suggest to you anything you should be cautious about as a teacher? What topics do you think you should study more to make sure you do not violate the law but can also defend your rights as a teacher?
• Which rights of students, if any, are most worrisome to you as a future teacher? Do you think that teachers and administrators in your community generally are too reluctant or too quick to recognize student rights? Have your own attitudes toward student rights changed as a result of reading this section?
• Do you think controversies involving church and state will affect you directly as a teacher? Which aspects are most relevant in your subject field? What difficulties or challenges that relate to religion might arise in schools in your community?