Responses from inquiries to the superintendents of 32 urban school systems across the country provided the basis for classifying and evaluating modes of decentralization and extent of community control. Main features of the school systems' operations are reported under nine categories: (1) decentralized decision making with centralized…

Speech given at the Consultation for Educational Justice in New York City by the coordinator of Milwaukee's Federation of Independent Community Schools. Discusses the community schools of Milwaukee and, in particular, their financing problems. (JM)

In 1969, the New York City school decentralization law divided the city school system into 31 (later 32) community school districts, each under the auspices of a locally elected board. The findings and recommendations of a large-scale evaluation of the governance of New York City schools in the post-decentralization era are presented in this…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to ascertain the extent to which urban school systems have decentralized the administration of their schools, (2) to obtain opinions on its workability in terms of curriculum development, (3) to begin development of an instrument for clarifying role and function issues at various echelons of decision-making,…

The 15-year effort to decentralize New York City public schools and thereby implement basic changes in the school system is briefly sketched in this study. The structure of the school system, powers of local boards, central board, and chancellor, school board elections, keeping the public informed, educational impact, and effect on truancy and…

Although the break-up of the unresponsive school bureaucracy in New York will be a move toward greater accountability, the basic question is: will this raise achievement levels? Its possible advantagees include: the increase in both the operating efficiency of the schools and the responsiveness of schools to the lay public; increased student fate…

This study finds that the New York City version of school-based decision making, School-Based Management/Shared Decision Making (SBM/SDM), fails to bring school-based management or shared decision making to the schools. This report begins by describing the seriously dysfunctional structure of the New York City public schools and explains the…

The major stimulus of the community school movement is a general dissatisfaction with the existing public education system, the greatest thrust having come from the minority groups. The two major difficulties appear to be the creation of independent schools or districts under local community control, and the development of adequate funding…