The nation's schools have become a conflict zone where our polarized views and values are clashing. There are new arguments over curriculum, books in school libraries, and support for transgender students, as well as continuing struggles over racial segregation, disparities in learning, the quality of education, and how to pay for it. This course will explore these challenges from the perspectives of law and public policy, recognizing that decisions of institutions in both sectors contribute to the design of America's system of public preK-12 education. Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are central to nearly all the topics we will discuss. We will explore the process of education law and policy change, including school integration, the inclusion of students with disabilities, accountability, and calls for education reform. We will also consider the existing empirical evidence informing the debates on policy alternatives. Discussions and readings about a diverse range of cultures and countries will help us think about education law and policy in a broader context. Course readings will include judicial decisions, statutes, policy analyses, law reviews, empirical research articles, and journalistic accounts of education and human development issues. Classes will consist of active student discussion of legal and policy design issues, presentations by guest speakers who are active practitioners and advocates in education law and policy, and presentations of group research projects.
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