Deals with a recent effort at urban reform, the movement for community control over schools in America's largest cities; putting theories into practice is as difficult as ever. (DM)

Although education, as an activity mandated, sponsored, and supervised by the capitalist state, is as much an apparatus of the state as any other state agency, it is far more democratic, open to change and innovation, and subject to potential community control than any other state apparatus. To understand education's function in a capitalist…

This paper presents the idea of formal neighborhood government as a beginning to discussion and debate. Only by clearing away the confusion over what changes are being asked for by the proponents of decentralization can the neighborhood government movement be placed in historical perspective. The justification for neighborhood government,…

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,…