Legal and Ethical Implications in the Classroom
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Grand Canyon University
EDU 450, Classroom Engagement and Management
October 24, 2010
Legal and Ethical Implications in the Classroom More than ever there is an existence of many outside detriments to influence student behavior. In addition to bullying, there is now cyber bullying, hazing, sexual and inappropriate texting, and increased school violence. Educators now have to do more than consider their students learning ability and social economical background when evaluating student performance and classroom management. Now they must deal with the daily influences that sometimes make their way into the classroom environment. …show more content…
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records (para. 1). The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education (FERPA, 2010, para. 1). Under FERPA parents have the right to inspect and review their child’s education records kept by the school (FERPA, 2010, para. 3). Parents or eligible students also have the right to request that the school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading (FERPA, para. 4). FERPA also requires that schools have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student 's education record, with the exception of certain following parties and specific conditions listed by …show more content…
The majority of these policies are to protect the student. They lend additional responsibility and discernment to the teacher. For most educators, Kopkowski (2010) states that the National Education Association (NEA) can help in locating unions to help assist teachers in knowing their own legal rights (para. 2). Many unions have eexperienced legal advocates that help in employment-related matters (NEA, 2010, para. 7). They assist in legal matters that may arises and provide liability insurance as a member of the Association (NEA, 2010, para. 7). However, the most important function is that they let educators know that they do have rights. Their local office can assist teachers in knowing exactly what those are, hopefully avoiding the many legal and ethical minefields in the education