In her article “Beyond the Wall of Separation: Church-State in Public Schools,” Martha McCarthy, Chancellor's Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership and Studies policies at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, makes clear that its goal is to inform educators of the legal history and constitutional precedents of the Establishment Clause and the Free Speech Clause of the former amendment, explaining in an appendix how educators should implement these findings. It summarizes and analyzes the major Supreme Court rulings during the 20th century regarding religious expression in public schools. It clarifies the use of the Establishment Clause and the Free Speech Clause, including recent changes in trends that have been noted at the Supreme Court over the past decade. From the late 1940s until the 1990s, most Supreme Court decisions focused on the Establishment Clause, until increasingly excluding the Free Speech Clause, so that Students were increasingly restricted in how they were allowed to express themselves at school, even privately. In recent years, however, it has been noted that forcing students to suppress their religious expression is itself a religious statement that denies the role of religion in people's lives. McCarthy notes that public schools must take a neutral stance toward religion, so as not to defend or deny its role in people's lives, either directly or indirectly. McCarthy's contention is that educators have a responsibility to ensure that religious indoctrination sponsored by public officials such as teachers and schools does not occur, but at the same time, no teacher or school unduly interferes with the rights of students to practice their faith...... middle of paper ...... from the Supreme Court. However, a balance is required between the establishment and the free speech clause which is an absolutely irrefutable part of the Constitution and can only be interpreted to a certain extent by any court. The current balance between these clauses, as currently understood, is the duty of the public school teacher and administrator to maintain, but teachers and administrators must be open to changes in the understanding of this balance as more cases shed light on practices and interpretation. of the first amendment. It is the duty of public school officials, in whatever capacity, to keep abreast of these changes so that they can properly carry out their duties in defending both the neutrality of schools and the rights students to hold and practice a religion. beliefs during their daily lives.