Mexican Americans have a long history in the struggle to end school segregation and achieve educational equality. Rubén Donato and Jarrod Hanson trace that history through a series of court cases that show how their fight for desegregation both intersects with and differs from the more well-known struggle of Black Americans. In some cases, Mexican…

The focus on using the courts to abolish tenure is a distraction from the important work of improving teacher quality. Unfortunately, the recent decision of Vergara v. California has only perpetuated the mistaken notion that only after tenure is abolished can underperforming teachers be removed. But the authors contend that administrators,…

The current canons of education are replete with suggestions for how to raise the achievement of Hispanic and Latino students. Absent from that discussion is what to teach them in a way that anchors them to their uniquely American culture and history. The author considers how Mexican-American history is often taught as if it were an offshoot of…

On 26 September 2001, the Chino Valley School District, which is approximately 30 miles east of Los Angeles, signed a negotiated agreement with the duly authorized union representing the certified employees, the Associated Chino Teachers (ACT). The agreement provided that every member of the represented unit would become either a member of the ACT…

Addresses both the issues raised by the recent trial in Sacramento (California), "Scopes II," which pitted evolution against scientific creationism, and the questions that stem from the trial's failure to address those issues. (Author/WD)

Discusses the complaint that led to the case of Seagraves et al. versus State of California et al., the "anti-dogmatism" policy adopted by the California state board of education in 1972, and the outcome of the trial. (WD)

Analyzes California case ("Newdow v. U.S. Congress") involving Constit utional challenge to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance wherein the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the phrase violated the Establishment Clause requiring state-church separation. (Contains 11 references.) (PKP)

In a California case involving a 16-year-old girl's possession of three knives on school grounds, both a trial and Ninth Circuit court affirmed the school vice-principal's right to search and discover these weapons while enforcing a no-smoking policy. The court lectured parents and lawyers for wasting the court's time--especially after a juvenile…