Legal & Ethical Issues in K to 12 Education
Public schools in America are free for all children. Schools in the United States provide equal access and opportunity for achievement for all students. Students have their legal rights based on the constitution and interests protected by the judicial courts and the legal system (Alexander, 2012). Several laws have been put into place to protect these rights as an American student and to ensure that each student is given an equal education. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and certain special education laws, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have had a major impact on how our public schools are run and the types of decisions that are made in and outside of the schools. Other laws that have an extensive affect on students and their rights include zero tolerance policies and the rules and regulations that accompany them.
No Child Left Behind
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002 has had a huge impact on education in public schools. The act focuses on assessment driven reform, standards based assessment, assessment centered accountability, and high stakes consequences. (Act, N. C. L. B. (36). of 2001). The law requires universal high achievement and does that via standardized
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Many of the policies put in place fail to take into consideration the varied rate of learning of children. While it is proven that our brains adapt into adulthood, the fact that we all learn and develop at a different rate is not taken into consideration with NCLB (Educational Research, 2006). These laws affect what is taught when in schools, the examinations they take and the scores need to pass, how their teachers are trained, and how money is used in educational programs in such schools. However, there have been agreements and disagreements whether the law is fit for educational achievement (Educational Research,