The plan proposed in this report gives elected community boards of education the responsibility and authority to meet particular educational needs of their communities, including in the special area of low academic achievement. The proposal is in the form of a guideline and covers such areas as selection of community boards; parent participation;…

This book is divided into four chapters. The first examines the concepts and issues related to understanding social systems and how the schools can be viewed as a social system. The differences between centralization and decentralization, as well as systems-analysis and management-control approaches are also explored. In the next chapter, we are…

Discusses the use of video technology and community, or narrowcast, television in developing countries, particularly Africa. The importance of the media in improving communication between people and their government is emphasized, and the political, social and technical problems involved are described. (Author/LRW)

Describes two Tanzanian reform programs: Education for Self-Reliance and Decentralization. The first supports programs to make education relevant to rural life, correct elitist biases, and improve students' attitudes toward rural living. The second, already instituted in primary and adult education, seeks to promote community participation in…

Describes the plan to decentralize all public schools in Chicago (Illinois). The following unique features are discussed: (1) local school councils governing each school; (2) principals' responsibilities; (3) central school board's role; (4) specific school and system goals. (FMW)

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…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to ascertain the extent to which urban school systems have decentralized the administration of their schools, (2) to obtain opinions on its workability in terms of curriculum development, (3) to begin development of an instrument for clarifying role and function issues at various echelons of decision-making,…

To obtain a clearer understanding of the problems of urban education in Illinois, a committee of seven State legislators and 14 lay citizens engaged in a three-part study: (1) A series of statewide public hearings was held, resulting in 27 proposed solutions, and five universities submitted plans for their increased participation in the…

Drawing largely on data from Los Angeles, but with reference to other cities where appropriate, this paper attempts to clarify the distinctive positions taken by advocates of community control as opposed to proponents of administrative decentralization. While community control is essentially a political demand, oriented toward citizens influencing…

This handbook is organized by action areas that a school principal needs to consider in creating, maintaining, and utilizing successful involvement with the neighboring communities. Each area discusses the range of options available to the principal. Building principals are thus able to select features to fit their particular communities. The…

This article explores the benefits and drawbacks of centralized versus local control of schools. It concludes that our traditional conflict between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian perspectives makes it possible for us to avoid a permanent imbalance between centrist imperatives and the need to maintain rural strength. (PB)

Chinese "people-managed schools" began in the 1940s as popular voluntary village schools providing flexible relevant education to rural peasants, but are regarded today as low status and low quality. This change reflects the Chinese Communist Party's incremental move away from both decentralized decision making and populist education to…

In 1989, Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools began an experiment with the radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the story of what happened in Chicago's elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in the reform was the theory that expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational…

Research on District Decentralized Title I ESEA programs reveals conflict among school officials, community representatives, and community agencies. School officials mistrust and poorly communicate with community representatives. Community agencies compete for the economic resources brought by decentralization, while overlooking the main objective…