Answers some hard questions, such as: Does real community control diminish the professional? Whose fault is it when community involvement fails? (Author)

Analysis of report to be published by the Urban Coalition.

Examines Detroit's economic development policy-making culture and assesses its impact on the formation of the community development corporation (CDC) network that dominated Empowerment Zone (EZ) planning in the initial stages. Analyzes the importance of distrust between City Hall, business interests, and community residents in consolidating CDC…

Facing declining enrollment, loss of state funds, and decreasing public confidence, the Salt Lake City Schools found several groups demanding a voice in the decision-making process. A plan for shared governance was implemented. Representatives of the teachers' association, the administrative association, and the classified employees' association…

Examines some evidence about public understanding of education policy, compares it to similar understandings of other public policy fields, and discusses some of the steps that may be taken to deal with the prevailing levels of understanding. (Author)

The author argues that direct citizen participation cannot influence educational policy or restore the power of lay boards in public education. Asserting that more can be accomplished by a technically trained organization working within the bureaucracy, he cites the accomplishments of the Education Clearinghouse, a nonprofit group of…

If participation does not include an openness to the issues that are of real concern to the community and an opportunity to influence policy relating to those issues, it becomes an empty public relations gesture fostering apathy, disinterest, resistance, or counter-organization. (MB)

Discusses the arguments for and against expanded public participation in educational policy making and considers examples of several forms of public participation drawn from the U.S., France, Italy, England, Sweden, the German Federal Republic, and the People's Republic of China. Also explores some of the probable consequences of expanded public…

This paper examines whether suburban communities can provide any useful conceptual tools for the examination of the prospects for community control in cities. Several propositions are advanced: First it is argued that the relevance of suburban community control to the poor in the cities is not diminished by the finding that those of high social…

Each of these four papers highlights findings of a National Institute of Education-sponsored project entitled "Citizen Organizations: A Study of Citizen Participation in Educational Decisionmaking." The first paper, "Class, Power, and Networking: Implications of Existing Network Patterns Among Groups," discusses the effect of inter-organizational…

The extent of citizen participation is influenced by local community factors, the character of Federal agency policy, and the purposes of Federal legislators and administrators. The latter include: decrease of alienation, engagement of the "sick" individual in the healing process, creation of a neighborhood power force able to influence the…

Inviting policy development is an attempt to cordially summon those who are involved and affected by rules, codes, and procedures to understand and participate in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies. This paper first presents criteria for an invitational framework for policy development and then goes on to discuss the…

Over 800 items on citizen participation in educational decision-making, policy development, and school governance in public schools and school systems are described in this annotated bibliography. Major emphasis is on published books, pamphlets, monographs, and articles, although documents obtainable through the Educational Resources Information…

This report explores the individual and social benefits of citizen participation in educational decision-making. This exploration combines democratic theory, historical and cultural determinants, practical experience and public opinion, and research and evaluation. Citizens participate politically in school affairs to effect changes in policy,…

To explore the issue of local control over public education, five major questions have been identified and followed by responses from a variety of sources that depict existing conflicts and diversity in opinion. The responses illustrate that resolutions of the local control problems are uncertain, not due to lack of direction by participants, but…