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The most major impacts court rulings have had in the classroom over the past twenty years have all been in the arena of civil rights and civic duties. Brown V. The board of Education occurred in 1954, the first major decision on the road to desegregation. Subsequent rulings have dealt with school prayer, inter-district bussing to achieve racially and economically diverse populations in schools, and the redistribution of funds from districts higher tax earnings to those with greater financial need. All of these decisions have in one way or another dealt with the equality of the learning process, and with the need to maintain a balance in classrooms between individual attention and equal treatment, encouragement, and opportunity for all students.

The rights in regards to students are broadly defined by Massachusetts Teacher Standard D, which states teachers must work to promote achievement in all students, and that students must believe effort is key to achievement. I believe this means that children need to be given the opportunity to work at their level, but encouraged to keep up with the class, regardless of racial or socio-economic issues. This is just as important for children who are brighter than average; if they are not challenged, both they and others will see that effort is not always key to success; expectations need room for manipulation on a case-by-case basis. Denying this flexibility denies the children the right they have to a challenging and ultimately productive education, which consists not only of the material learned but the life-lessons absorbed by the process of learning itself.

Specific tools I would implement to ensure compliance with the legal and ethical requirements of teaching would be a utilization of student-led activities, and at the same time many independent projects. The group work would be structured such that everyone had a chance to be a leader of some sort; to find the way that they work best in and with a group, and to learn the responsibility of having others to work with. This will also promote interaction among diverse social groups. This latter effect would also be the purpose of the independent projects, which not only would allow each student to adapt the assignment to their own learning style and pace, but also to share something about their lives as a way to expose the class to a diversity of backgrounds. I believe these methods would be effective in meeting the Massachusetts Teacher Standard and, more importantly, in helping an increasingly diverse population of students to learn.