Syllabus for EDL-550
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A large and growing body of case law relating to public schools continues to impact schools and educational practice. Educational leaders must know how the legal process deals with controversial issues, especially those related to schooling, that play a central role in our culture. Issues of equity, gender discrimination, providing for disabled students (IDEA), Title I and Title IX regulations, racial and ethnic discrimination, sexual harassment, First Amendment rights pertaining to freedom of expression and freedom of speech in student publications, objectionable instructional materials, religion in the schools, and Fourth Amendment rights pertaining to searches and seizures of student property will be addressed. Students focus on these and other problem areas that frequently result in litigation involving school districts, principals, and other educators as named parties. Students critically assess the impact of federal and state constitutions, statutes, and regulations on the operation of schools. They explore interactions among national, state, and local regulations and examine the impact of federal law and New Jersey state cases on the rights of students, parents, and public school employees. Of special importance, students learn about procedural due process considerations and the constitutional rights of personnel and students balanced against the duties of the school (ISLLC 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; NJDOE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
On successful completion of the course, you should be able to:
The following materials are required to do the work of the course. The required textbook is available from the College's textbook supplier, MBS Direct. Required Textbook Alexander, K., and Alexander M. D. (2012). American public school law (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 978-0-495-91049-7 Electronic Portfolio Registration
School Law is a three-credit, graduate course, consisting of 11 lessons:
Each lesson, in turn, comprises learning objectives, a study assignment, an online discussion on the class Discussion Board, and a writing assignment. You are also required to complete two court case reports and to submit a final paper or project. For the course's 11 lessons, go to the Lessons area of the course Web site. For information about the court case reports and the final paper or project, see the discussions below or go to the Reports and Papers area of the course Web site. (See also the course Calendar.)
Each lesson in the course has an online class discussion forum. All discussion forums take place asynchronously on the class Discussion Board. Online discussions provide an opportunity for you to interact with your classmates. During this aspect of the course, you respond to prompts that assist you in developing your ideas, you share those ideas with your classmates, and you comment on their posts. Discussion board interactions promote development of a community of learners, critical thinking, and exploratory learning. Please participate in online discussions as you would in constructive face-to-face discussions. You are expected to post well-reasoned and thoughtful reflections for each item, making reference, as appropriate, to your readings. You are also expected to reply to your classmates' posts in a respectful, professional, and courteous manner. You may, of course, post questions asking for clarification or further elucidation on a topic. Click link for an evaluation rubric.
Each lesson in the course concludes with a short writing assignment of about 500 words. The writing assignments require you to write well-reasoned and thoughtful papers on questions derived from the lesson objectives, making reference, as appropriate, to the readings and other sources of information. You are required to follow current APA style guidelines in formatting your work and for all references. Click link for an evaluation rubric.
During the semester, you will write two analyses of important court cases. One report should be based on a case covered in Lessons 1–5; the second report should be based on a case covered in Lessons 6–11. In these reports you are expected to cite the case correctly and completely, identify the topic and issue(s) addressed, present the facts of the case, summarize the findings (of both the trial court and appellate court, if any), explain the reasoning behind the court's decision, and assess the implication of the decision for administrators. In preparing your report, please use the template provided (click link for a rich-text version) and the course text as the source for the court cases. Included here as well is a list of cases and page locations in the text from which you can select the two cases. Click link for an evaluation rubric.
The final paper or project constitutes another principal artifact for your portfolio and counts 25% toward your grade. Choose one of the following options:
Click link for an evaluation rubric. Click link for an evaluation rubric. Please note that by Lesson 7 you should have come to an agreement with your mentor about the topic of your paper or the subject of the project. You are required to follow current APA style guidelines in formatting and organizing your paper and for any citations.
PORTFOLIO ARTIFACTS AND REFLECTIVE NARRATIVE The principal artifacts for this course are the two court case reports and your final paper or project. Accompanying the artifact is a reflective narrative that describes the process and how the artifact meets specific standards and prepares you for school leadership. Place your artifacts in the Artifacts area of your e-folio. You can also link your artifacts (designated as "Work") to ISLLC standards listed in the Resources area of the e-folio. Keep your work in "draft" or "ready for feedback" status for now.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., writing assignments, discussion postings, court case reports, final paper or project, etc.). You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. (Note: Graduate students must maintain a B average to remain in good academic standing.) Letter grades and their numerical equivalents are as follows:
Thomas Edison State College expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the College insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty takes the following forms:
Academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary action and possible dismissal from the College. Students who submit papers that are found to be plagiarized will receive an F on the plagiarized assignment, may receive a grade of F for the course, and may face dismissal from the College. A student who is charged with academic dishonesty will be given oral or written notice of the charge. If a mentor or College official believes the infraction is serious enough to warrant referral of the case to the academic dean, or if the mentor awards a final grade of F in the course because of the infraction, the student and the mentor will be afforded formal due process. If a student is found cheating or using unauthorized materials on an examination, he or she will automatically receive a grade of F on that examination. Students who believe they have been falsely accused of academic dishonesty should seek redress through informal discussions with the mentor, through the office of the dean, or through an executive officer of Thomas Edison State College. Plagiarism Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else's. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources. Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism. Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself. For examples of unintentional plagiarism and advice on when to quote and when to paraphrase, click the links provided below. Examples of Unintentional Plagiarism
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