Reprint from COUNCIL FOR BASIC EDUCATION BULLETIN," December 1968

The author explains how the traditional (hierarchical and bureaucratic) school district model inhibits citizen participation, and he describes the effects on citizen participation of two other models -- a decentralized model or a community control model. Chicago's experience with a decentralized model and New York City's experience with a…

Cites the rush to administrative decentralization and community participation. Suggests that controversy arises when school critics want to move to community control, a concept that has not yet accomplished what advocates claim for it. (JF)

Questions the rationale for and possible consequences of political decentralization of New York City. Suggests that the disadvantages--reduced level of professionalism, increased expense in multiple government operation, "stabilization" of residential segregation, necessity for budget negotiations because of public disclosure of tax…

Analysis of report to be published by the Urban Coalition.

ERIC abstracts on citizen involvement in the control of schools, announced in RIE through Novermber 1970, are presented. The key terms used in compiling this collection are "citizen participation,""decentralization,""parent participation,""parent school relationship,""school community relationship," and "school district autonomy." The following…

The movement toward school decentralization in Chicago is best described as a strategy of incrementalism. It has proceeded along separate fronts--administrative decentralization, district and school advisory councils, and a special experimental district. This paper describes the extent to which these developments have progressed. It also seeks to…

This article examines the New York City decentralization program and its implications for ultimate exclusion of those groups for which the original design intended mainstream decision making powers. (JC)

A major component of the decentralization concept has been the focus on the participation of community, staff, and students in the process of educational decision making. On June 28, 1971, the Los Angeles City Board of Education mandated that a school-community advisory council be established in every regular elementary and secondary school in the…

Using three interpretations of community control, the attitudes of local elites in New York City were analyzed. Findings indicate substantial levels of support for some form of community control among both white and minority respondents. (Author/RLV)

There are many different forms of community involvement and citizen participation in the schools. But while the quantity is high, the quality and impact are lagging far behind. The author (who is president of the Institute for Responsive Education) advocates the reintroduction of democratic values into education. Through school-based management,…

The focus of this paper is on the delineation of three popular reform measures: decentralization, citizen participation, and community control and assessment of recent efforts to implement these. It develops a model that realistically combines decentralization with community decision making. (Author/AM)

The state of New South Wales (NSW) ceded the Canberra area to the Commonwealth in 1911 as the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but maintained responsibility for education in the region until 1974, when the territory became responsible for its own educational system. ACT's Independent Education Authority came into being in large part as the…

This annotated bibliography was compiled as a library research project at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Part I of the listing deals with decentralization as a structural feature of the local political system. Part II examines the process of local citizen participation. Parts III and IV focus on community control in the decentralization…

The past 50 years have witnessed a vast transformation of public education from tens of thousands of relatively independent, "grass roots," citizen-controlled school districts to centrally controlled, massive bureaucracies. Ten recommendations are made which would bring public education back under the control of ordinary citizens. (RM)