Recent demands for community representation in planning raise basic questions as to the nature of the community. This article likens the community to theatrical fiction, maintained through variously-staged dramatic performances. (Author/LR)

The movement toward school decentralization in Chicago is best described as a strategy of incrementalism. It has proceeded along separate fronts--administrative decentralization, district and school advisory councils, and a special experimental district. This paper describes the extent to which these developments have progressed. It also seeks to…

Examines Detroit's economic development policy-making culture and assesses its impact on the formation of the community development corporation (CDC) network that dominated Empowerment Zone (EZ) planning in the initial stages. Analyzes the importance of distrust between City Hall, business interests, and community residents in consolidating CDC…

This article examines the New York City decentralization program and its implications for ultimate exclusion of those groups for which the original design intended mainstream decision making powers. (JC)

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…

This paper supports the contention that community parity is an essential condition for the successful implementation of all projects supported by the U.S. Office of Education. The paper begins with a summary of the reasoning underlying this position, followed by some recommendations designed to guide planners of future government programs in…

Court-ordered citizen monitoring of school desegregation does little to increase participation in school politics by minorities, women, the powerless, or the uninvolved. The greatest effects of increasing community involvement are likely to be a little more effective desegregation and much more power and participation for those who already have…

Examines some evidence about public understanding of education policy, compares it to similar understandings of other public policy fields, and discusses some of the steps that may be taken to deal with the prevailing levels of understanding. (Author)

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…

Cable television has been introduced to the public as a revolutionary development in communications, but its history, evolving structure, and present operation indicate otherwise. A few large industrial conglomerates have come to dominate the field of cable television and studies by private institutions and the regulatory activities of the Federal…

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)

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,…

The focus of this paper is on the delineation of three popular reform measures: decentralization, citizen participation, and community control and assessment of recent efforts to implement these. It develops a model that realistically combines decentralization with community decision making. (Author/AM)

The state of New South Wales (NSW) ceded the Canberra area to the Commonwealth in 1911 as the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but maintained responsibility for education in the region until 1974, when the territory became responsible for its own educational system. ACT's Independent Education Authority came into being in large part as the…

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…