Courts and School Policies

• NCJ Number: 105714
• Author(s): H S Lufler
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 32 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper Presented at the conference on Student Discipline Strategies, November 7, 1986, Washington, DC.

Annotation

This paper reviews research into school compliance with U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Abstract

Early impact studies of such issues as school prayer found that school personnel had incomplete knowledge of decision requirements and that a variety of factors, including attitudes toward the court and the decisions, the bureaucracy, and third-party efforts, influenced the degree of compliance. Later research into compliance with decisions relating to student rights and school discipline indicate that legal commentators were influential in shaping knowledge of and reactions to decisions. In general, legal knowledge of school administrators was more accurate then that of teachers, although significant percentages of all respondents were unfamiliar with basic elements of decisions. In general, teachers had better knowledge in areas of personal responsibility, such as discipline and school attendance, and less in areas such as children's legal rights. Respondents often overestimated the extent of children's rights, felt that decisions imposed restraints on their actions, but were not significantly worried about possible litigation. Finally, a 1985 study showed 99-percent compliance with presuspension hearing requirements. 55 footnotes and 58 references.