You can enhance the following activities from the Instructor's Resource Manual by incorporating the resources available on the World Wide Web.

State and Federal Courts

The Instructor's Resource Manual suggests:
Have students search recent issues of newspapers and news magazines for an article regarding a legal aspect of education. Have them report (in writing or orally) on the situation described in the article and ask them to apply information from the chapter to that situation.

Students can link to the archives of newspapers and magazines at the Newslink site:
Newslink
This site, associated with the American Journalism Review, provides links to newspapers, magazines, and television stations all over the world.

Teachers' Rights and Responsibilities

The Instructor's Resource Manual suggests assigning students to:
Gather information about procedures for teachers to follow in reporting suspected cases of child abuse in a local district. (Municipal departments of social services can be helpful in this area.) Also gather information about the number of cases reported annually in your county. Discuss teachers' responsibilities in this area.

Student can also get information from the following sources:

National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information
The web site is branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers information on how to report suspected child abuse, a rundown on state statutes regarding abuse and neglect of children, and more.

Child Abuse Prevention Network
This organization offers a great deal of information about child abuse and survivor issues, as well as the telephone numbers for reporting hotlines, state by state.

National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
This database, maintained at Cornell University, can help students gather statistics on the extent of the problem.

Students' Rights and Responsibilities

The Instructor's Resource Manual suggests:

• Invite a principal or central administrator from a local school district to come in and discuss how the district deals with the student rights and responsibilities outlined this chapter of the textbook. Obtain copies of the district's student handbook and compare the regulations with issues discussed in the text.
• Assign students to write to several school districts to obtain a copy of district policies on student conduct and discipline, and then analyze differences in the policies. Identify the implications of the policies for teachers' behavior in dealing with students.
• Check to see if a school district in your area has an attorney on its staff or on retainer. If so, invite the attorney to be interviewed by your class. Have students prepare the interview questions, based on aspects of the chapter that they would like to explore further, and share the questions with the attorney prior to his or her visit to allow for advance preparation. Have students write a "reaction paper" after the session, describing their thoughts on the attorney's responses to their questions. Ask them to focus their papers on their reactions to any information in the interview that they had not known before, that they found particularly interesting, or that worried them.

Some resources that might help with these activities include:

School District Locator
The National Center for Education Statistics makes contact information available for school districts all over the country.

Discipline Policy
AskERIC offers a collection of links to various resources on discipline policies.

Education Law Association
This is a professional organization for "anyone interested in education law."

Discipline as a New Teacher
Students may enjoy this practical advice from the I Love Teaching site for new teachers.

American Civil Liberties Union
The Students' Rights section of the ACLU web site describes current controversies in which that organization is involved.

Religion and the Public Schools

The Instructor's Resource Manual suggests:
Examine the controversy over the place of religion in the public school curriculum (textbook selection, religious displays, prayer and Bible reading) as the issue has been debated over the last forty years. Have students develop a timeline of significant federal court rulings and the key precedent established in each case.

American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is involved in many controversies concerning religion and the schools. You can find out more by visiting the "Students' Rights" or "Religious Liberty" sections of their web site.

First Amendment Cyber Tribune (FACT)
An overall view of religious liberty as defined by Supreme Court cases.

History of Education and Childhood
The History of Education site includes this special section of links to information about the history of religion and education. Although many deal with history outside of the United States, the site may provide a starting point for this assignment.

Religion
AskERIC has collected a helpful set of links to information on religion and public schools.

Evolution and Creationism
Education Week offers a "hot topic" summary of the controversy surrounding the teaching of evolutionary theory.

Educational Equity

The Instructor's Resource Manual suggests making the following assignment to students:
Analyze education equity for women in the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s, as compared with that of today. Identify ways in which educational opportunities have opened up for women and examine the societal influences and actions that resulted in these changes.

You can recommend the following as a good starting point for this research project:

The History of Education and Childhood
The History of Education site includes this special section of links to information about the history of women in education.