This paper offers administrators, teachers, and school boards an introduction to legal issues surrounding teacher dismissal and school desegregation and summarizes a study of all teacher dismissal cases heard from 1970 through 1981 in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Most of the report is devoted to an overview of the historical development of the interpretation of the due process clause and to a review of landmark school desegregation and teacher dismissal cases involving due process rights. A compilation of teacher dismissal cases was analyzed for patterns of commonality among the court decisions with regard to the school system's dismissal procedures. Due generally to an inadequate number of decisions, no patterns of commonality were found in cases charging violation of teachers' First Amendment rights or involving teacher dismissals alleging incompetence, immorality, insubordination, or felony conviction. A pattern of commonality was found among decisions involving the due process procedures followed by districts, with those closely following relevant statutes usually upheld, and those diverging from the statutes usually found unreasonable or arbitrary. In contract nonrenewal cases school systems were commonly upheld if they had adhered to state employment requirements or school board policies in contract procedures. General guidelines for ensuring due process are provided. (MJL)