Many studies have noted the important role family socioeconomic status (SES) plays in students' out-of-school learning. However, very little is known about the relationship between students' SES and citizenship education in out-of-school contexts. To address this research gap, this study conducted an out-of-school citizenship education survey…

A college-based program that combines training, direct support, and technical assistance was found to produce significant gains in bonding and bridging social capital and key political attributes among low-income, minority, and immigrant groups organizing to enhance their power to influence public school politics and policies in New York City.…

Many urban school districts have recently implemented sweeping reforms that alter the ways in which educational services are administered. The environment in which these reforms are embedded is increasingly and more directly tied to core political institutions and business elites. Hence, as this dependence has grown, districts have become more…

Schools are examined using a common sociological perspective. Relationships among key groups in school organizations are discussed from a micropolitical frame of reference. School micropolitics are considered in terms of teacher autonomy, order, time, and school administrators and the organization. Implications for future micropolitical research…

The need for a micropolitical reference frame in educational research is critiqued. The six articles discussed illustrate the stratified structure of statuses in school organization that have the character of a caste society as their defining polity feature or essential governance attribute. (RLC)

Four data-based analyses and three commentaries concerning research into the micropolitics of education are introduced. The following themes in micropolitical analysis are considered: ideologies/values of teacher/administrator subsystems; bureaucratic myths; policy remaking in site-level implementation; bias in organizational life; reality…

Describes four major dimensions that distinguish ways that different state education agencies (SEAs) relate to school districts and offers a typology of SEAs based on these dimensions. Argues that only a few SEAs are capable of fostering substantial and widespread improvements. (CMG)

Suggests that the key to organizational change may not always rest in the hands of the holders of formal organizational power, giving an alternative to the usual strategies of re-education or replacement to the top of the organizational hierarchy in systems of rapid movement from entry to high positions. (Author/AM)

Proposes that the role of the secondary school assistant principal should be studied in terms of the dynamics of basic political conflicts in schools. When seen as a polity, the school site is full of disturbances that can potentially expand into conflicts; the assistant principals' typical function is to respond to these disturbances. (KH)

Discusses school power structures. Cites the following examples of "bottom-up" authority: (1) vouchers; (2) magnet schools; and (3) open enrollment. Suggests a new model in which the larger school districts function as "holding companies" and individual schools function as "subsidiaries" of the parent company. (FMW)

Compares the state governance and power structures in early child education in Michigan, California, and New York. Focuses on the informal, dynamic networks of power and influence among public and private agencies and, in turn, between these agencies and clients attached to a variety of interest groups. (Author/GC)