Facing declining enrollment, loss of state funds, and decreasing public confidence, the Salt Lake City Schools found several groups demanding a voice in the decision-making process. A plan for shared governance was implemented. Representatives of the teachers' association, the administrative association, and the classified employees' association…

Deals with some problems in the operation of a school in a white middle-class Chicago community and the attempt by a segment of the community to influence the direction of their school. (Author/JM)

The author argues that direct citizen participation cannot influence educational policy or restore the power of lay boards in public education. Asserting that more can be accomplished by a technically trained organization working within the bureaucracy, he cites the accomplishments of the Education Clearinghouse, a nonprofit group of…

If participation does not include an openness to the issues that are of real concern to the community and an opportunity to influence policy relating to those issues, it becomes an empty public relations gesture fostering apathy, disinterest, resistance, or counter-organization. (MB)

Acceptance or rejection of school policy hinges on the role played by formal and informal groups within the community power structure. Kimbrough's research suggests that formal groups are subordinate to the informal power structure in establishing policy, though formal groups make important contributions to decision-making. Some researchers…

The pressure of removal of all Indians from the eastern states and territories to the undeveloped West caused the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes to re-frame their basic institutions, including their governments, in an attempt to conform with Anglo American ideas of what was "civilized". Both the Choctaws and Cherokees established…

To explore the issue of local control over public education, five major questions have been identified and followed by responses from a variety of sources that depict existing conflicts and diversity in opinion. The responses illustrate that resolutions of the local control problems are uncertain, not due to lack of direction by participants, but…

The paper presents a detailed overview of educational policymaking and discusses the need for minority groups to be involved in policy formation. The first section describes the distinguishing characteristics of the main elements of the functions of administration and policymaking process. The second section examines the following three models of…