Examines what citizen participation is, its quality and impact; and outlines its goals: more democracy, decentralization, collaboration, school councils, diversity and choice, community access to collective bargaining, nurture, state leadership, and outreach by the insiders. (Author/IRT)

The emphasis in this annotated bibliography is citizen participation in education in the areas of decision making, policy development, and school governance. The focus is on the public school and school system rather than on private and parochial schools. One hundred fifty books, parts of books, and published reports are annotated, together with…

Discusses necessity of educational policy changes to provide citizens with a meaningful voice on school advisory councils. (Author/LD)

An examination of the authority, the structure, and the activities of school councils, as revealed through relevant literature, field visits, workshops, interviews, and other channels open to the Institute for Responsive Education, reveals that most councils have little responsibility or power to affect educational decision-making, and rarely are…

Discusses two ways of enhancing the ability of clients of local educational services to contribute to policy decisions; first, by developing public policies which support private, voluntary citizen organizations to influence educational policies and, second, by strengthening mandated advisory councils. Briefly describes five means of implementing…

Major findings of a three-year National Institute of Education study of citizen participation in education are the large extent and frequent ambiguity of the intervention of government agencies to increase citizen involvement in schools, and the continuing domination of educational decision-making by professionals. (Author/MLF)

There are many different forms of community involvement and citizen participation in the schools. But while the quantity is high, the quality and impact are lagging far behind. The author (who is president of the Institute for Responsive Education) advocates the reintroduction of democratic values into education. Through school-based management,…

Four keynote ideas can help partnerships form between communities and their schools. The first keynote is a new "social contract" for education in each community, based on agreement on values, school objectives, and group roles. The second keynote is the "public good." There exists a breakdown of community, a loss of the sense…

Over the past twenty years, Federal government intervention has had a greater impact on elementary and secondary education than most citizens, educators, or politicians realize. Federal intervention has taken two directions: initiatives to redistribute educational resources through compensatory educational programs, and initiatives towards target…

This report is part of a research study on citizen participation in educational decision making. Data are drawn from: (1) interviews with school administrators, school board members, teachers' union representatives, members of the media, political figures involved in educational issues, officers and members of citizens' organizations, state…

Examples of effective parent and citizen involvement in schools throughout the United States are cited. Actions include a ruling in Boston that parent groups have a right to monitor classrooms in that city; a new collective bargaining law which provides open access to information about the agenda and content of collective bargaining; and the…

A vast number of different types of citizens' groups participate in the educational process with differing degrees of involvement. Besides school-oriented groups, there are child advocacy and neighborhood associations, other citizens groups that have broad concerns but are in part interested in schools, and the advisory committees created by legal…

This second volume of a status report on citizen participation in educational decision-making considers in more detail a variety of channels for participation. In chapter 1, three examples of community councils illumine the importance of race, class, and economic factors in patterns of participation. Chapter 2 focuses on mandated school councils…

Over 800 items on citizen participation in educational decision-making, policy development, and school governance in public schools and school systems are described in this annotated bibliography. Major emphasis is on published books, pamphlets, monographs, and articles, although documents obtainable through the Educational Resources Information…

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,…