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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
College of Education
I. Descriptive Information
Department:
Course Title:
Educational Studies
Children in Schools: Legal, Ethical and
Safety Concerns
EDF 2720
3 hours
Course Number:
Course Credit:
Prerequisite:
Semester:
Instructor:
Email Address:
Office:
Office Hours:
Telephone:
II. Statement of Course Goals and Objectives
Catalog Course Description: The role of education in children’s lives through the analysis of
legal, ethical and safety concerns.
Course Goals: The course will introduce students to an analysis of critical issues within the
schools by focusing on the impact of legal, ethical and safety issues on children’s lives within
schools. It will allow students to exercise their skills of examination and evaluation to critically
analyze various issues associated with public education and to determine personal beliefs about
those issues. Students will also identify and examine social factors from a diversity perspective.
ESOL== English for Speakers of Other Languages
FEAP = Florida Educator Accomplished Practices
PEC = Florida Professional Education Competencies
Specific Course Objectives:
1. Students will understand school law as it applies to church and state issues
(FEAP 5/PEC: Diversity).
2. Students will understand school law pertaining to compulsory attendance and instructional
programs.
4. Students will understand school law pertaining to the rights and responsibilities of students,
teachers and principals (FEAP 6/PEC: Ethics).
5. Students will understand school law pertaining to the rights of disabled students
(FEAP/PEC 6).
6. Students will understand school law pertaining to desegregation (FEAP/PEC 6).
7. Students will understand school law pertaining to student records (FEAP/PEC 6).
9. Students will understand the Florida Code of Ethics for Professional Educators
(FEAP/PEC 6).
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10. Students will understand the National Education Association Code of Ethics for Professional
Educators (FEAP/PEC 6).
11. Students will understand the historical development of ethical theories (FEAP/PEC 6).
12. Students will develop and be able to articulate their own ethical beliefs (FEAP/PEC 6).
13. Students will be able to apply ethical theories to ethical problems in the field of education
(FEAP/PEC 4: Critical Thinking and FEAP/PEC 6).
14. Students will recognize the differences and similarities among cultural groups in the United
States and be able to identify the impediments to successful educational experiences for LEP
students. (ESOL 2,3,23 and FEAP/PEC 5, PEC 14).
15. Students will learn how schools and society respond to social issues that place children at
risk (FEAP/PEC 9: Learning Environments).
16. Students will understand the importance of student hall pass procedures (FEAP/PEC 9).
17. Students will understand the importance of emergency response procedures (FEAP/PEC 9).
18. Students will understand the importance of safeguards in the use of technology
(FEAP/PEC 9).
19. Students will understand the importance of weapons detection and prevention programs
(FEAP/PEC 9).
20. Students will understand the importance of victim support services (FEAP/PEC 9).
21. Students will understand the importance of coordinated relationships between schools and
local law enforcement agencies (FEAP/PEC 9).
22. Students will understand the importance of visitor and volunteer screening (FEAP/PEC 9).
23. Students will understand the importance of gang prevention and resistance programs
(FEAP/PEC 9).
24. Students will understand the importance of campus and building patrol (FEAP/PEC 9).
25. Students will understand the importance of the legal principles governing search and seizure
and use of force by educators and law enforcement (FEAP/PEC 9).
26. Students will learn how to become 'reflective practitioners," a term which is central to the
College of Education's prevailing philosophy (FEAP/PEC 3: Continuous Improvement).
Means to Achieve Objectives (Competencies)
1. Assigned text readings
2. Oral Presentation
3. Class Attendance and Participation
4. Case Studies (ESOL) (accessible on WebCT for all students and instructors)
III. Required Texts
Essex, N.L. (2012). School Law and the Public Schools: A Practical Guide for Educational
Leaders, 5th edition. Allyn & Bacon, Pearson. ISBN: 9780137072750
IV. Academic Course Requirements
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A. ESOL Standards 2, 3, and 23: The ESOL Case Studies deal with the emerging reality of a
linguistically diverse student body. Students will complete the “Assignments for EDF 2720”
found on-line at http://education.ucf.edu/stll/esol.cfm, and listed below. Each set of questions
relating to the case study must be completed. The completed assignments must be brought to
class on the scheduled day. Satisfactory completion of this assignment will enable the instructor
to sign you off for this portion of the TESOL requirement for graduation. Your signed-off
assignments should be placed in your TESOL notebook, which is required by the UCF College
of Education.

Standard #2:
Recognize the major differences and similarities among the different
cultural groups in the United States.

Standard #3:

Standard #23:
Identify, expose, and reexamine cultural stereotypes relating to LEP
and non-LEP students.
Identify major attitudes of local target groups toward school
teachers, discipline, and education in general that may lead to
misinterpretation by school personnel; reduce cross-cultural barriers
between students, parents, and the school setting.
Activities
Standard 2 & 3
English Language Learner Interview
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze how language learning is experienced and
internalized by English Language Learners (ELL).
For this assignment, identify an individual who may be categorized as an English Language
Learner per the Florida Consent Decree. Interview this individual about his/her experiences
learning English. This might take a bit of reflection on the part of your interviewee, especially if
you have chosen an adult who is completely fluent in English. Conversely, you shouldn't choose
a limited English proficient interviewee who is still struggling with speech production, unless
you are willing to reword your questions. Patience is required in the latter case. If you choose to
interview a subject that is under the age of 18, you must get permission from his/her guardian
before the interview.
After you have reread and analyzed your interview notes, respond to the following questions
(2 pages maximum). Please attach your interview notes with your question responses.
1. What are the major differences/similarities between your culture and that of your interviewee?
2. What stereotypes about your respondent's culture were upheld/destroyed/transformed through
the interview?
3. Vis-à-vis education and language acquisition, what approaches worked best/worst for your
interviewee? What is your reaction to his/her experiences? Provide examples in your discussion.
4. Having learned about this particular culture, what skills do you think you need to develop in
order to work effectively in diverse classrooms? How could you develop these skills
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independently? How could teacher education programs be changed to help to enhance your
effectiveness with diverse students?
5. What other realizations, notions, lessons learned did you have from this experience?
Standard 23
Cultural Groups and Educational Attitudes
Pick 2 major cultural groups within today's public schools (e.g., Haitian, Jehovah's Witness).
Using an Internet search engine (e.g., Dogpile, Google), search for 2 websites which contain
information on each of these two cultural groups' attitudes toward education in general. The
websites should be nonprofit, meaning that their URL addresses end in either EDU, ORG, or
GOV.
Once you have found appropriate websites and read over all of the material carefully, summarize
the groups' attitudes and highlight the areas that might lead to misinterpretation within schools.
Considering this information, name 5 strategies/approaches/techniques/models that
schools/teachers can employ to reduce the cross-cultural barriers between each of these 2 groups
and the schools. Then, explain what resources are available, or would be needed, to accomplish
these objectives.
C. FEAP 5: Diversity: (Note: Completed activity will become part of student’s electronic
portfolio, uploaded through LiveText.) See ESOL standards 2, 3 and 23 listed above.
D. FEAP 6: Ethics: (Note: Completed paper will become part of student’s electronic portfolio,
uploaded through LiveText.)
Students will write a short paper (4-6 pages) focusing on an ethical issues within American
schools. In addition to these requirements, students also will complete group presentation
projects. The details of the position paper and the group project assignment are listed below.
Position Paper: Based on the assigned readings on ethics, students are to select one issue of
interest for clarification and discussion. The paper should identify in clear terms the moral
problem at issue, completely delineate the competing arguments represented in the text on the
issue, and explain which argument makes the most sense and why. NOTE: Being explicit and
clear as to how you reach your conclusion is a central aim of this task.
Group Presentation Project: Groups will select a research topic having to do with some aspect of
ethics and education. Individuals within the group will select some aspect of the topic to
investigate and to report, both written and oral.
Individual reports must thoroughly summarize at least two competing perspectives found in
scholarly source material on the particular aspect under investigation and clarify how the
particular aspect is relevant to a better understanding of the overall group topic. Finally, by way
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of investigating a particular aspect of the group topic, individual reports should take a stand on
the overall group topic one way or another and be clear as to why.
A one-page outline of the group research is due to the instructor prior to individual presentations.
Some suggested research topics follow below:
The ethics of academic freedom
The ethical issues entailed in the FCAT
How values could/should be taught in the classroom
Ethical considerations entailed in business and school partnerships
The ethics (responsibilities) of teaching
V. Schedule of Topics
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University of Central Florida
Service-Learning Verification, EDF 2720: Critical Analysis of Ethical, Legal and School
Safety Issues
Student's Name:
Section of EDF 2720
Organization(s):
County/-ies:
Agency(s) Phone Number(s):
Activity(-ies)/Subject(s)/Other:
Name(s) of Cooperating Facilitator/(s):
E-Mail(s) of Cooperating Facilitator(s):
(Students are charged with the completion and maintenance of the contract and to ensure that all
information is complete and legible, excluding Cooperating Facilitator’s Signature)
Date
Times
Activities Performed
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Cooperating Facilitator(s)
Signature:
 Total
TOTAL HOURS (must be a minimum of 15)
University of Central Florida
Service-Learning Contract EDF 2720: Critical Analysis of Ethical, Legal and School Safety
Issues
UCF Student’s name:
EDF 2720 Section number:
Students will participate in providing service through established social agencies which meet the needs
of the community to bind the activity and the course content together. Service completed as community
involvement in the form of volunteerism at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, or food pantries are prime
examples of such entities. The UCF student may be involved in direct or indirect volunteer activities,
however s/he must be active, not merely observing, and s/he needs to be meeting a need in your
organization.
In terms of the course, the volunteerism supports many of the course objectives such as: identifying the
effects of philosophy, politics, religion, and socio-economic issues on school organization, curriculum,
and instruction (FAP 9, 10); evaluation of various sociological factors in modern society and their
influence on school policies (FAP 11), learn how schools and society respond to social issues that place
children at risk (FET 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4), and recognize the differences and similarities among cultural
groups in the United States and be able to identify the impediments to successful educational
experiences for LEP students (FPS: ESOL 2, 3, 23).
The intent is that the service-learning experience will serve several community needs. First, the UCF
student will aid your organization in support of community enrichment. Secondly, the UCF student will
assist you as an extra pair of hands in meeting the interest of your agency. Finally, the UCF student will
experience the multiplicity of the community and the realities of society and consequently make
decisions about entering the education profession based on that enlightenment.
Brief description of service activities to be performed:
Cooperating Facilitator‘s Signature:
EDF 2720 Student’s Signature
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Cooperating Facilitator‘s E-Mail:
EDF 2720 Student’s E-Mail
(Students are charged with the completion and maintenance of the contract and to ensure that all information is
complete and legible, excluding the Cooperating Facilitator’ signature)
V1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Campbell, E. (2003). The ethical teacher. Maidenhead, PA: Open University Press.
Chartock, R.K. (2004). Educational foundations: An anthology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Prentice Hall.
Cottrol, R.J. (2003). Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, culture, and the constitution.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Fink, D.B. (2006). Doing the right thing: Ethical development across diverse environments. San
Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass/Wiley.
Fishbaugh, M.S., Berkeley, T.R. & Schroth, G. (Eds.). (2003). Ensuring safe school
environments: Exploring issues, seeking solutions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Glover, R. & Murphy, H. (Eds.). (2003). School safety management: Practical approaches,
current theories and standards. Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute.
Gutek, G. L. (2005). Historical and philosophical foundations of education: A biographical
introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Hare, W. & Portelli, J.P. (2003). Case studies in ethics of education: What to do? Case studies
for educators. Halifax, NS: EdPhil Books.
Hills, D. (2003). Crisis and the classsroom: A practical guide for teachers. Springflied, IL: C.C.
Thomas.
Jackson, J.P. (2005). Science for segregation: Race, law, and the case against Brown v. Board of
Education. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Jacobsen, D.A. (2003). Philosophy in classroom teaching: Bridging the gap. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Looney, S.D. (2004). Education and the legal system: A guide to undestanding the law. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merill/Prentice Hall.
Maxcy, S.J. (2002). Ethical school leadership. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
McCarthy, M., Cambron-McCabe, N.H., & Thomas, S.B. (2004). Legal rights of teachers and
students. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc/Allyn and Bacon.
Noll, J.W. (Ed.). (2003). Taking sides: Clashing views on controversial educational issues.
Guilford, CN: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.
Ozmon, H.A. & Craver, S. M. (2003). Philosophical foundations of education. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Robertson, C. (2007). Safety, nutrition, & health in early education. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson
Delmar Learning.
Resources on the web
Code of Ethics for the Education Profession in Florida: www.firn.edu/doe/rules/6b-1.htm
NEA Code of Ethics: www.nea.org/aboutnea/code.html
Case Studies in Ethics of Education: www.uvsc.edu/ethics/curriculum/education
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School Law Cases and Principles: www.asbj.com/schoollawarchive/index.html
School Law Cases and Principles Regarding Church and State:
www.nsba.org/site/docs/4000/3992.pdf
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