Three case studies (senior citizens center, senior citizens housing project, and a housing and employment project) are assessed against an operational definition of community development. Since only one of these fits the definition, the author concludes that projects designated as community development activity by agencies and workers often do not…

A major component of the decentralization concept has been the focus on the participation of community, staff, and students in the process of educational decision making. On June 28, 1971, the Los Angeles City Board of Education mandated that a school-community advisory council be established in every regular elementary and secondary school in the…

Using three interpretations of community control, the attitudes of local elites in New York City were analyzed. Findings indicate substantial levels of support for some form of community control among both white and minority respondents. (Author/RLV)

Examines Colombia's efforts to halt escalating violence and social destruction through political and educational decentralization aimed at bolstering participatory democracy. Discusses the efficiency and anticorruption goals of centralization policies of the 1970s. Describes lack of shared vision and other national and local barriers to…

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…

This paper examines the functioning of the Public School Safety Commission that was established in a large west coast city to study the problem of violence in the city's public schools. The commission was established by the board of education in the spring of 1974 and issued its final report in July 1974. Over 60 community organizations,…

A comparison of the racial composition of parent, community, and teacher representatives elected in autumn 1989 to Local School Councils (LSCs) in Chicago to the racial/ethnic mix of the populations they represent indicates significant racial disparity on a city-wide basis. Statistical data were analyzed from 503 of a total of 540 schools (about…

The history, current issues and future potential of rural township government today were the central focus of a 1972 survey of 18 townships in 6 southwestern Minnesota counties. Survey methodology included personal interviews with both residents and township officers, mailed questionnaires, and attendance at board meetings of the Minnesota…

This paper is designed as a guide to the study of empowerment in the neighborhood movement for historic preservation in New Orleans' French Quarter. For this case study, whose initial focus in on a relatively affluent sector of the population, culture and identity become prominent. However, the review adopts a broader focus to ensure its…

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…

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…

This book explores how community functions in "Bremer," a small rural town in eastern Washington. Human interactions in a variety of contexts are analyzed within a framework that posits three distinct eras of social and economic organization: community-control, mass-society, and information eras. Contexts examined are farming (the…

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,…

Two propositions formed the basis for the study described in this report: (1) that the institutions of mass media and education have not adjusted to cope with the problems of newly formed cities or with urban disintegration in older industrialized cities, and (2) that marginal urban groups have a need for greater control over their lives and the…

This paper presents the major findings from a survey on parent participation in decision-making that was distributed to school administrators, trustees, and a random selection of teachers and parents at School District #68 in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The study was designed to explore means of facilitating partnership between parents and schools…