The past 50 years have witnessed a vast transformation of public education from tens of thousands of relatively independent, "grass roots," citizen-controlled school districts to centrally controlled, massive bureaucracies. Ten recommendations are made which would bring public education back under the control of ordinary citizens. (RM)

This chapter provides insights into the solution of financial and governance problems that face big city education. The report identifies recent developments affecting big city education such as metropolitanism, regionalism, full State financing, revenue sharing, and reform of property taxation. The authors discuss (1) recent court cases affecting…

A review of the literature on school reform and successful restructuring efforts, with a focus on the decentralization of the Chicago public school system, is the purpose of this paper. Under new legislation, the Chicago Board of Education will be disbanded to encourage citizen control of schools, and will be replaced by a system of individual…

Argues that the centralized, bureaucratic model of education management has created more problems than solutions. Contrasts the current situation with an earlier model defined by local autonomy and personal commitment. Explores a broad set of issues and approaches designed to make arts education more autonomous and less divisive. (MJP)

Prepared by independent evaluators at the request of the Interlake Tribal Division for Schools, this report assesses the status of education in Fairford and makes recommendations for comprehensive educational improvements that would enable the community to regain local control of education. The opening sections describe the present situation,…