Deciding what materials to select for your law school Street Law program depends, in large part, on your answers to the following:

• Is your Street Law program a credit-bearing model? Is it volunteer? Is it part of a pro bono or public service requirement? Is it sponsored by a student organization?

  Generally, in credit-bearing models, law students use a textbook on practical law, human rights or civics supplemented by student-generated lessons and materials. The Street Law: A Course in Practical Law (Glencoe, 1999) textbook, the most popular practical law text in the U.S., is the first choice for high school and most adult populations. Most credit bearing Street Law programs supplement the use of the Street Law textbook with student-generated materials. For evaluation purposes, professors may opt to have law students produce model lessons that use the information in the Street Law textbook as a base.

  For all other Street Law models, the use of a textbook is a good place to begin. Often, in these models, students will have specific issues that they want to teach so the law students will develop lessons on those topics. Street Law: A Course in Practical Law provides law students with a model of how to write lessons and make difficult legal concepts come alive. The need for student generated materials grows if the program model is based in the community; e.g., a homeless shelter or a family strengthening organization. For instance, law students often research and write lessons on local or current legal issues.
  
  For more information on creating model lessons, click on:

  • Best Practices in Law-Related Education
  • Sample Lessons
    
    
• If the program is school-based, will it be a law elective or will it be integrated into a social studies course, such as U.S. Government or U.S. History?

  If your program is school-based, your selection of materials may already be mandated. This is especially the case if the social studies course is one that will be tested at the state level. If so, you will need to connect the selection of your materials and your instruction to the core learning goals or mandated state outcomes for the course.

  Most U.S. Government classes have a standard text; most law electives use Street Law: A Course in Practical Law. However, it is always advisable to enhance a text with your own creative lessons.

• Who is the audience for your Street Law program (e.g., high school students, elementary school students, community groups, incarcerated adults, etc.)

  Assess the needs of your audience, select materials accordingly, and then enhance the materials by using interactive strategies, highlighting hot legal topics, and discussing local laws. Here are some materials below that can support your efforts:

For High School Students or Young Adults:

Street Law: A Course in Practical Law: Most credit-bearing Street Law programs use the Street Law textbook (now in its 6th edition). This text provides a practical, meaningful understanding of the law to help high school students live successfully within our law-oriented society. Street Law, used in high schools throughout the country, teaches about important legal issues such as the Bill of Rights, family law, housing law, consumer law, torts, and criminal law and procedure. The text is supplemented by a teacher's manual, testing materials, video program, transparencies, and a special website (www.streetlaw.com). For more information on the Street Law text, click on www.streetlaw.com or order by calling 1-800-334-7344.

Human Rights For All: examines how human rights are universal and apply to the lives of everyone in every country. For too long people in the United States have only viewed human rights violations as problems facing other countries. This textbook encourages dialogue to examine human rights issues within the U.S. (e.g., problems of poverty, racism, homelessness, inadequate health care, etc.), to analyze U.S. compliance with international human rights standards, and to energize people to take action in helping achieve human rights worldwide.

Mock Trials: Street Law has mock trials available online and information on preparing and conducting a mock trial competition.

Law in Your Life : An engaging yet easy to read text especially designed for students who have not had success with more traditional materials. Through Law in Your Life, students learn practical information about their rights and responsibilities, develop legal survival skills and experience positive interaction with adults and each other.

We Can Work it Out!: Conflict Resolution through Mediation is a national program that applies interactive methodology to teach conflict resolution skills. In contrast to traditional peer mediation programs, the special focus of We Can Work It Out! is to provide all youth with the skills they need to handle conflict in their daily lives. The easy-to-use instructor manual includes step-by-step lesson plans, reproducible handouts, and sample conflict scenarios. Two versions of the manual are available: one for youth ages 8 to 13, another for ages 14 to 19. Young people learn to control their "triggers," understand how to generate nonviolent options when faced with conflict, develop active listening skills, and discover how to find common ground when they disagree. They also learn the mediation process. The program culminates in a Mediation Showcase event, modeled on the mock trial, during which youth practice their new conflict resolution skills. The program is in use throughout the country in Boys and Girls Clubs, after-school programs, and schools.

Street Law for Youth Courts: Youth Courts -- an innovative model for dealing with first time youth offenders -- are taking-off throughout the United States. In general, youth courts operate as a peer operated disposition mechanism for deciding how young offenders should be held accountable for violating the law. Peers can select among different dispositional options such as community service, a letter of apology to the victim, or participation in community classes. The Street Law for Youth Courts binder provides 15 lessons, each designed to be delivered in a 90 minute class session. Lesson topics include rights of juvenile respondents, shoplifting, anger management, vandalism, and crimes and consequences.

For Pregnant and Parenting Teens or Parents

Parents and the Law: The PAL curriculum features 23 lessons, appropriate for low-level readers, that include: specific laws that impact the family and child; information on community resources; and opportunities for skill development in problem-solving, empathy, cooperation, and communication. The lesson plans are easy to follow and are useful for teachers and non-teachers alike. Student materials are included in the teacher's binder, and appear in both English and Spanish. Parents who successfully complete the program will be better able to communicate, solve problems, and manage conflict at home and in the community; identify laws that govern, protect and promote the family; and access community resources that support families. The highly adaptable program can be used anywhere there is a need for parent education.

For Middle School Students

Teens, Crime and the Community: Teens, Crime, and the Community (TCC) is a nationwide effort implemented at the local level to reduce the incidence of teen victimization and engage teens as crime prevention resources in their schools and communities. TCC combines education and action to reduce the high level of teen victimization. Teens are an enormous pool of untapped energy, talent, and enthusiasm, waiting for a chance to contribute to society. The textbook behind the program helps students learn personal safety strategies and ways to build stronger, safer schools and neighborhoods. Topics covered are relevant and pressing--violence, vandalism, acquaintance rape, conflict management, substance abuse, shoplifting, and more.

For Elementary School Students

Street Law can direct you to resources appropriate for elementary school students. For example, Southern Methodist University Law School has developed an excellent compilation of lessons appropriate for fifth graders.
E-mail us at clearinghouse@streetlaw.org so that we can direct you to appropriate resources.

For Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings

Save Our Streets: (SOS) targets youths charged with weapons offenses. The Save Our Streets program believes in sending a positive message that empowers youth to take control of their own lives by thinking first. The 16-week program engages youth in an examination of the public policy issues surrounding weapons possession and the implications these issues have on safety and the community. Students also explore the workings of the juvenile justice system with an emphasis on using juvenile justice system resource people. Finally, the program teaches problem-solving, communication and conflict resolution skills.

Juvenile Justice Settings: The lessons in this binder teach juveniles who are involved in the juvenile justice system about their legal rights and responsibilities and the rationale behind laws. The lessons focus on demystifying the court experience and helping youth make better decisions while they are in the system and afterwards. The curriculum addresses such topics as why laws are necessary, the rights and responsibilities that juveniles have, community rules, family responsibilities, and the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen. These classes can be taught by juvenile justice staff or volunteers from the community. The program can be used in detention diversion and probation settings.

For After-School Programs

Community Works: Smart Teens Make Safer Communities is an interactive program that combines education and action to reduce the high level of teen victimization by crime. Young people learn ways to protect themselves and to develop safer, more vital communities through service learning projects. This leader's action kit, from the national Teens, Crime and the Community program, features 31 interactive lessons in an easy-to-use binder. Facilitators are provided with fun, hands-on activities in subject areas such as conflict management, property crime, dating violence, police and community relations, handgun violence, intimidation, and hate crimes. The kit provides full instruction and materials to facilitate delivery. The program is successfully used around the country in community settings such and Boys and Girls Clubs.

Parents and the Law, Save Our Streets and Juvenile Justice Settings materials are also appropriate for after school or community settings.

For Youth of Varying Ages - Other Opportunities

Youth Act! is changing young people's lives by helping them develop the leadership and vision necessary to advocate for meaningful change in their communities. Young people go a step beyond community service to identify root causes of local concerns, tackling issues at the policy level. In addition to learning substantive information about important topics, youth develop advocacy and leadership skills. Youth Act! uses a three-part approach: youth leadership training; advocacy projects; and a youth summit at the state capitol. This program is perfect for tackling community issues.

Youth Vision . . . In Dreams Begin Responsibility: provides young people, ages five to 25, with the opportunity to explore creative ways to resolve conflict. Each year, youth are issued a "challenge" to describe how they want to work with other young people and adults to craft innovative projects that address conflict, prejudice, or violence in their school or community. The goals of the program are to recognize and support young people as visionaries with solutions to our nation's problems, to create national visibility for youth as community leaders, and to heighten community efforts to reduce youth violence through youth-designed programs. All thoughtful submissions receive recognition and technical assistance to help develop the idea into a workable project.

Other Materials

Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Street Law partners with four national law-related education projects. The following partners have a wealth of materials to support your efforts:

American Bar Association
Division for Public Education
541 North Fairbanks Court
Chicago, IL 60611-3314
P: 312/988-5735
F: 312/988-5494
www.abanet.org/publiced

Center for Civic Education
3146 Douglas Fir Road
Calabasas, CA 91302-1467
P: 800/350-4223
F: 818/591-9330
www.civiced.org

Constitutional Rights Foundation
601 South Kingsley Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90005-4128
P: 213/487-5590
F: 213/386-0459
www.crf-usa.org

407 South Dearborn Street
Suite 1700
Chicago, IL 60605-1119
P: 800/801-9933; 312/663-9057
F: 312/663-4321
www.crfc.org

Phi Alpha Delta
Public Service Center
345 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-4300
P: 410/347-3118
F: 410/347-3119
www.pad.org

Social Science Education Consortium
P.O. Box 21270
Boulder, CO 80308-4270
P: 303/492-8154
F: 303/449-3925
www.ssecinc.org