This study is focused on policy: How did the school decentralization law affect the recruitment and selection of board members? How did the legal matrix set the conditions for community boards to function? And how did these community boards pursue their policies in three key areas: personnel, budget, and curriculum? Social change requires a…

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…

An overview is given of the potential contribution of computerized information services to communities involved with common disciplines or common missions. The author first describes the knowledge workshop--an environment in which knowledge workers do their knowledge work--and then discusses the prototype of the community workshop which has been…

The Chicago (Illinois) public school system has been undergoing a major restructuring that has shifted responsibility for running the schools to local school councils. The nine articles of this issue bring together opinions and research of a diverse group of authors with multiple perspectives on the effort. (SLD)

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)

Current and incipient problems in educational administration in England can be grouped into two areas: those resulting from reorganization and those arising from social and political factors. Many problems faced by educational administrators result from school reorganization that is a result of an increase in the number of comprehensive schools.…

The publication describes a community learning center established in Newark, New Jersey, in 1969 with concern for children, parents, and people trapped by the limiting institutions of our cities, and which is composed of three program components: a day care center (for 60 three to five year olds), an after school and summer program (for 50-100…

Emphasizing the role of the school board, these guidelines for community control of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school operations also discuss transferring BIA schools to public school operation, community contracting for services, and initiating other than school board community participation in school affairs. The guidelines for development…

This transcript of a National Public Radio broadcast records the presentation and discussion of various issues concerning the role of community members in local school districts. Topics addressed include control of the schools by the poor, the middle class, teacher unions, parents, the PTA, and community groups; a parents' union in Philadelphia;…

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…

This report is a summary of New York City's school decentralization law for the use of educational and community personnel. The New York City Office of Education Affairs of the Human Rights Administration (HRA) prepared and distributed the report as a public service in response to requests for explanation of the law. No editorial opinion was…

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…

Utilizing material in the ERIC network, this paper briefly investigates the theory, history, and current state of community schools. Planning guidelines for alternative uses of school facilities are discussed and some examples are given of effective shared facilities. Financial requirements for starting a community school and possible sources of…

In today's wars, children are on the front lines. This handbook, the result of a meeting of psychologists and humanitarian workers, presents a strategy to meet the needs of children in war and refugee crises that intends to be cost-effective, empowering, and child-focused. The strategy emerged from field work based on the belief that each…

This paper describes the development of a research project in 1993 to address concerns and issues related to education of Aboriginal students in the Shoalhaven area of New South Wales, Australia. Specifically, the purpose of the project was to examine the relationships between Aboriginal communities, students, and their schools, and important…