Trends in education-related litigation: 1986--2004
Issue Date
2007-12-31Author
Leonard, Susan Anderson
Publisher
University of Kansas
Type
Dissertation
Degree Level
Ph.D.
Discipline
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Much of what is believed about the amount and types of litigation in education is based on hunches and impressions rather than empirical research. This study provides a more accurate statistical picture of trends in education-related litigation in recent years than has previously been available. The study has two main parts. The first part is an analysis of reported cases from 1986-2004 found in the Westlaw database. The second part is a national survey of litigation experience of school districts across the country for the years 2001-2004. The main findings of this study are that the total amount of education-related litigation has grown only modestly during the years studied, that the rate of growth has been about the same as the growth of the number of students attending school in the same period, that the major area of litigation growth has been in the category of special education, that the two largest areas of litigation are negligence and special education and that, on average a school district can expect to be sued once per 3200 students per year. The study concludes that although there is not a litigation crisis in education, schools could and should do a more effective job preventing litigation. Knowing which areas of educational practice carry the greatest risk of litigation and accurately understanding the trends in litigation in general can help equip school administrators to improve practice and avoid unnecessary lawsuits.
Description
Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Kansas, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 2007.
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- Dissertations [4660]
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