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)

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)

System-wide school decentralization is now implemented both in New York City and in Detroit. It is important, therefore, to inquire into alternative explanations of the origins of the school decentralization movement with a view to constructing models of school organizational behavior and change which may have utility either to other school…

Sheds light on a growing conflict that has surfaced between urban communities and teachers' unions: the conflict over the sharing of power in school decision making. Discusses the actions of the Philadelphia Parents Union. (Author/IRT)

Faced with a legal mandate to equalize educational resources available to its public elementary schools, can the Board of Education of the District of Columbia respond effectively to the public pressure for decentralization of its decision-making systems? The answer may be determined through the responses to two further questions: to what extent…

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…

Advocates of community control over local schools seek deference to parental preferences from the professional staff. Specific proposals include: (1) Staff accountability to parental representatives for student learning; (2) parental participation in the selection of school principals; (3) parental participation in school level decision-making,…

This document discusses the educational cycles of urban education from 1898 through the current thrust toward decentralization. Briefly, political exploitation for personal profit was followed by the theory that "professionals" should control the schools without "outside interference." The present revolution is a direct reaction to the failure of…

This document reviews the consequences of urban community involvement in school decision making. Areas concerning educational decisions, shared as goals by lay communities and school people, are considered to be: institutional responsiveness, affective and material community support to schools, educational achievement, and the democratic principle…

The publication describes a community learning center established in Newark, New Jersey, in 1969 with concern for children, parents, and people trapped by the limiting institutions of our cities, and which is composed of three program components: a day care center (for 60 three to five year olds), an after school and summer program (for 50-100…

The belief that structural change providing for the representation of minority parents in urban school districts would improve educational services for their children has led to an emphasis on school-system controlled or affiliated channels for participation. This emphasis, based on assumptions about parent participation in suburban districts, has…