Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Daugherty has written an introductory text on special education and related law, specifically for educators, advocates, and attorneys. Each area of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is presented simply and clearly with adequate examples and case studies. Also addressed are the frequently asked questions regarding student records, hearing preparation and procedures, attorney fees, and liability.

Educational Law provides a comprehensive survey of the legal problems and issues that confront school administrators and policymakers. If there is a greater likelihood of litigation or error in a particular area of professional practice, the discussion is more extensive. The book is organized in accordance with the author's belief that students need to read cases to understand the subtlety and richness of the law, but for legal neophytes, cases without discussion and interpretation are often difficult to comprehend. Thus the text both explains the important concepts and principles of education law and presents court decisions to illuminate them. By employing this structure, the book combines the strengths of the traditional casebook and those of the legal treatise. It also discusses the implications of the law for educational policy and practice. Key features include the following: *Presentation --To aid comprehension, technical legal terms are carefully explained when first introduced and discussions of complex topics move logically from overview to elaboration of important details to summary of key topics and principles. *Cases --By integrating carefully edited cases into the analysis of legal issues, the book exposes students with little or no background in law to the subtlety and richness of legal thinking. *New Material --The third edition incorporates extensive treatment of new cases and legislation of the last five years. Topics that have been added or significantly expanded include: the No Child Left Behind Act, students rights--especially in the areas of free speech and search and seizure, vouchers and government assistance to private and religious schools, employment discrimination, racial and sexual harassment of students and school employees, affirmative action and voluntary school integration, equity and adequacy in school finance, issues relating to use of the Internet, and the law relating to special student populations. The table of cases contains about 250 more entries than in the second edition.

This is a concise, easy-to-read introduction to those topics in education law that are of immediate interest to all classroom teachers. Its goal is to make teacher's "legally literate," so that they can avoid unnecessary litigation in their jobs.