A STUDY WAS MADE OF A REPRESENTATIVE MIDWESTERN SCHOOL DISTRICT TO DETERMINE SCHOOL LEADERS' AWARENESS OF (1) INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE INFLUENTIAL IN THE DECISIONMAKING PROCESS FOR SCHOOL DISTRICT REORGANIZATION AND (2) ACTIONS PERFORMED BY EACH INFLUENTIAL INDIVIDUAL IN THE DECISIONAL PROCESS. THE RESEARCH PROCEDURE INCLUDES IDENTIFICATION AND RANK…

Technical capability, a resource needed by citizen groups, can usually be found. The uncertain political authority for decision-making given to citizen groups is a more serious problem. Local groups must learn where their project fits into the local political scheme. (EM)

Based on experiences at the Toronto Board of Education, the author comments on a paper criticizing the role and decision-making processes of another Canadian educational board. (GW)

Suggests that the relationship between policy outputs and community power may be more fruitfully conceived as variable, depending on the type and characteristics of the policy in question. (Author/AM)

This report discusses theories about and studies on the relationship between school districts and community power structures. It offers practical techniques for decisionmakers to use in dealing with such power structures. Various participants and influentials in the community power structure are identified and discussed. Two major power typologies…

This compilation of symposium papers on community power structure research focuses on the theme that community power structure research must shift away from case study methods and move toward aggregate data analysis. Advocating comparative analysis, seven authors present their views under the following topics: (1) Charles R. Adrian, "Several Loose…

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR STUDYING THE OPERATION OF SOCIAL POWER IN SCHOOL SYSTEMS WAS DEVELOPED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT A SCHOOL SYSTEM MUST BE UNDERSTOOD IN TERMS OF ITS SUPPORTING ENVIRONMENT. TWELVE DIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESES WERE TESTED TO DETERMINE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FOUR TYPES OF COMMUNITY POWER STRUCTURES (DOMINATED, FACTIONAL, PLURALISTIC, AND…

Reputational and pluralistic methods of community analysis differ; their findings, conclusions, and philosophies are frequently at variance. Reputationalists find an economically dominated power elite. They picture a community's power and influence structure as pyramidal -- the power elite forming a monolithic power pyramid. Thus, according to…

This paper focuses on defining and comparing four approaches for identifying the community's power actors. It outlines how professional change agents might use each of the four approaches to identify community power actors who are relevant for community development. The four approaches include the positional, the reputational, the decision-making,…

Concurrent with a needs assessment and community input study, a research team undertook two behavioral science research efforts. The first was an identification and examination of the influence network through which local leadership was organized. The second was an examination of how those who constituted the network of policy-making influentials…

A questionnaire survey of 180 Texas school district superintendents sought to determine both their perceptions of how community power structures influenced school board decisions and their techniques for communicating with their local power structure. The study analyzed four power structure types--monopolistic, multigroup noncompetitive,…

This paper, the third based on a 4-year sociological field study of school-community relations in a factional suburb, analyzes conflict generated by the discrepancy between the perceived and actual norms governing the school board-community relationship. A 3-year effort to develop board responsiveness followed a 7-year period of professional…