The issue of community control concerns the future role of parents in a changing school environment. It is vital that parental involvement be channeled toward positive and realistic goals such as defining the needs of children and determining how to meet these needs. To give parents access to decisionmakers, school boards should consider holding…

This paper explores how the idea of community control came about, what the concept is, and some implications it might have for communication practices in school systems. Social and political conditions which led to the idea of community control of education are reviewed. Particular attention is given to the dissatisfaction of minority groups and…

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…