A broad, panoramic study was conducted on the activities and the extent of participation of Black people in various telecommunications fields in the United States. The ways in which media technology can be and has been used as a means for educating Black people were examined. Briefly, the ideological perspective of Black education was discussed…

This book is directed at the following audiences: adult educators and others who are either involved in or desire to become involved in community-based work; students of education, the social sciences, or related disciplines who desire information on community involvement as a career or means of fulfilling civic responsibilities, and persons in…

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 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…

The major focus of this study is on altering the current structure of collective bargaining in public education to provide for adequate community participation. Concentrating on big city school systems where minorities and the poor have historically been apart from the educational policy-making process, the study finds that the scope of bargaining…

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 report is a series of interviews with fifteen citizens experienced in school community relations at five different sites across the nation. A background section presents the rationale for and the design of these interviews and introduces the participants. The greater portion of the report presents a summary of and commentary on the interviews…

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…

Public control of the schools has steadily eroded in recent years. Population growth and widespread consolidation of school districts, depoliticization of school board elections, adoption of the business model of professional school management, development of a multilevel school bureaucracy, and unionization of teachers all have combined to…

Participatory research began as a reaction to traditional social science research methodology, which tended to make persons into objects of study. It had its beginnings in Tanzania around 1970, when a group of farmers participated in research to assess and solve the problem of losses of grain harvests. The process grew out of the philosophy of…

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…

In focusing on local school board response to citizen desires for change in public school operations and on significant issues changing education from the perspective of school boards, three principles must be kept in mind: (1) public schools are controlled by three arms of government at three levels; (2) the federal government has limited powers;…

A growing trend in social science research is to reject those modes that treat individuals as objects of research and to accept the role of catalyst in helping the people to do their own research. Also, there is an increasing demand that results of social research must serve in a timely way to improve the situation of those involved. Participatory…

This report describes the New York City public school system's experiences with decentralization since 1970. The report includes an introductory chapter explaining the conditions that led to the adoption of decentralization; analytical case studies of eight New York City decentralized school districts; and two concluding chapters on findings and…