For the better part of two decades, the author and his research colleagues have been engaged in a broad program of research aimed at identifying certain of the "social determinants of health and wellbeing" common to Canadian First Nation, Metis, and Inuit youth. The present account samples from these ongoing research efforts by recapping…

The future stability of the Los Angeles school district as a single entity is questioned. Various problems that add instability to the system's present decentralization plans are discussed. Among them are achievement and academic performance. (Author/AM)

The design, implementation, and eventual failure of a system-wide, long-term comprehensive reform of the Washington, D.C. elementary and junior high schools to improve academic achievement among black students is explored in depth. The struggle for control over policy making and the opposition of teachers' unions and community groups were key…

The struggle to preserve their culture has turned Indians into educational activists pushing Congress for control of their own schools. (Author)

Examines the nature of the "sense of fate control" findings of the Coleman Report, and argues that these findings are irrelevant to the debate over community control. (DM)

the steps taken by a large urban school district to develop and implement an objectives-based curriculum with criterion-referenced assessment of student progress are described. These steps include: goal setting, development of curriculum objectives, construction of assessment exercises, matrix sampling in test administration, and reporting of…

The educational system and the community role in school desegregation are discussed. (JP)

The author disagrees with James Coleman's contentions (expressed in the preceding article) that we no longer have a rationale for preserving our commitment to public schools and that we should use public funds for a pluralistic conception of education. He offers reasons for renewing our commitment to public education. (Author/WD)

Four goals of increasing community involvement which may be shared by communities and administrators are given. Four paths through which involvement may affect achievement are identified. Focus is on consequences of involving persons in decision-making. (Author/AM)

A community controlled district in Harlem showed many positive features over a non-community controlled district; but today it no longer exists. Although quickly subverted by the larger organization, such unsanctioned social experiments provide significant new data for urban public organizations. (DM)

In order to study the effects of community control in schools on expectancies in black fifth through eighth grade children, five major categories of expectancy were of interest: internal control, group pride, success expectancies, self-esteem, and school attitudes. Focus was on the relationship between inner versus outer locus of control and…

Argues that compensatory education has failed because it concentrates on the student's failure to learn rather than the school's failure to instruct and provide experiences that make him ready to learn. (JM)