Know and understand educational law and surrounding issues in order to promote practices that afford all young people a high quality education environment and accord all faculty and staff their constitutional rights. This should include rights of parents as well, and the duties and rights involved with disabled and otherwise exceptional students, and how to avoid tortious conduct and other state actions, and compliance with key civil rights laws.  A deep exploration of church and state issues will result in the student knowing their own stance and appropriate guidelines in this key area in public education and some areas of private education.

Students will develop a beginning and growing sophistication about how to promote educationally and culturally sensitive policies and practices based on language rights and language acquisition theories for language minority origin students. This will include key cases and the tenets of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. There will be exploration of language acquisition theories and a positioning of the research in the political milieu that affects bilingual education and interventions for English Language Learners.

Become proficient in the practices that comprise appropriate leadership while negotiating the rights and duties of learners, families, employees and citizens through law including statutes, regulations and constitutional doctrines. Become proactive in meeting needs, and avoiding issues that affect learners etc. Learn theory and background of language learners and their rights and needs.  

Students will develop an appreciation for and a background in the legal and historical processes that developed our current understanding and methods of analysis of the US Constitution, and will see its relationship to the common school movement and American education.