When the state of Texas took control of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) in the summer of 2023, it marked the end of a multi-year legal battle between the district and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the beginning of a community-led campaign to re-take control of the district. Since, students and community groups have rallied to…

This paper reports on a small-scale longitudinal study of "local" leadership roles at two UK universities. The research explored perceptions of the leadership provided by a specific group of staff who held roles for enhancing learning and teaching. Based on ethnographic design principles, the study was based at one UK higher education…

This paper reviews the meaning and content of various First-Nation self-government discourses that have emerged over the last 40 years. Based on a detailed thematic analysis of policy papers, reports, and self-governance agreements on this issue of First-Nations control of education, this paper presents a coherent and defensible understanding of…

This paper examined the debate on a reform of school-based management in Hong Kong, which was to set up the Incorporated Management Committee (IMC) to manage the subsidized school. The nature of the debate during legislation and the characteristics of the reform were examined. The advantages, disadvantages and the implications of the reform were…

The Fuentes case demonstrated how the community's rights could be subverted by a purposeful faction; the Canarsie case showed how unchecked local control could damage children's rights. Successful decentralization requires the central board to assert its authority to prevent the arbitrary exercise of local power. (EH)

Highlights of events pertaining to one of the pivotal issues in American education today: Who should control the schools? (Author/MLF)

Reviews current governance problems in education and details the range of possible governance models for post-industrial schooling. After describing problems that governance must address, the paper describes various possibilities for school governance in the future. Five types of control processes are considered. Ideological foundations of an…

Contrasts activities and organizational structures of two Canadian community development initiatives: the Antigonish Movement and the Family of Cape Breton community development corporations. Finds ideological differences in the view of property and profit, governance and accountability, and role of education. Concludes that Antigonish is more…

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

State and federal governments in Australia have developed a range of policy instruments for rural areas in Australia that are infused with a new sense of "community," employing leading concepts like social capital, social enterprise, community development, partnerships and community building. This has encouraged local people and…

This paper is a review of the existing sytem of self-management and its development in Yugoslav universities. The Belgrade University serves as an example of this self-management which is an expression of the social and political aims of the country. (JH)

This report reveals the results of studies made of three groups actively seeking community participation in school affairs in a city noted for its conservative school system. The study utilized participant observation supplemented by interviews and document analysis. Each group had only 15-30 active members and no broad base in the community. All…

Discusses resource reallocation, community control, and tuition vouchers, and how each affects the role of the state, the community, and the family in the education process. (SP)

Identifies key ideas in the new plans for urban community control of schools that have already played a role in the controversies of the earlier era of progressive education. Suggests that those ideas, when combined with local and decentralized control of school organization, produce new dilemmas for professional educators in the present era.…