LEGAL ISSUES IN SCHOOLS
Course description: The purpose of this course is to develop in each student the ability to understand,
respond to, and influence legal and policy issues at the local, state, and national levels. Students will
consider the political systems (e.g., courts, legislatures, bureaucratic agencies) and power dynamics (e.g.,
interest groups, philanthropies, campaign committees) that influence the development and implementation
of education policies and laws. Students will also consider whose voices are included in legal and policy
conversations and decisions, and whose have been excluded; and examine ways to incorporate
traditionally marginalized voices into education policy and law in meaningful ways.
Specifically, students in this course will 1) understand the legal and policy issues that define and drive
educational environments through various frameworks; 2) examine issues of power and voice in legal and
policy decision-making process and consider how to engage diverse voices in reform and/or the
development of new laws and policies; 3) develop skills in problem-finding and problem-solving in order
to address education-related legal and policy issues including identification, analysis, and resolution of
problems with effective problem-solving techniques; and 4) develop interpersonal and group dynamics
knowledge and skills that will allow students to address head-on the difficult (and inherently political)
conversations that face those working in education policy and law spaces.
Instruction Mode
FACEFACE