Reviews current governance problems in education and details the range of possible governance models for post-industrial schooling. After describing problems that governance must address, the paper describes various possibilities for school governance in the future. Five types of control processes are considered. Ideological foundations of an…

Describes how New York City's African Free School became a focal point of Black community aspirations in the early 1800s and how the Black community struggled, with limited success, to maintain a role in determination of educational policies in the school. (CMG)

The controversy over the decentralization of schools focuses essentially on the issue of community control. This article explores the current status of decentralization and evaluates its effectiveness as a vehicle for community influence and educational reform. (Author/WD)

Discusses the problems of providing a uniform educational system that would enable children of the rural Yukon to move into other Canadian school systems with minimal difficulty. States that northern communities increasingly desire more control over local education. Argues that schools must address both local and national issues to adequately…

Equates the fight for busing, equal education, and school integration with the general struggle against racism. Briefly discusses the history of busing and school desegregation in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville, New York public schools. (Author/GC)

Court-ordered citizen monitoring of school desegregation does little to increase participation in school politics by minorities, women, the powerless, or the uninvolved. The greatest effects of increasing community involvement are likely to be a little more effective desegregation and much more power and participation for those who already have…

Contrasts community control with community participation in administratively decentralized schools. Lists large school districts in the U.S. which have been decentralized and discusses attitudes of school officials toward community involvement in public schools. Calls for more research on the effects of decentralization and community control on…

The Intifadeh, Palestinian, uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, has become a catalyst for educational change. Palestinian methods of coping with an educational system controlled by outsiders include informal, community-based education; alternative instruction based on existing textbooks; and long-term planning as part of…

Review of four articles on nonmetropolitan trends suggests that (1) access to adequate education and other services should be ensured regardless of locale; (2) urban-rural dichotomies are politically useless; and (3) rural schools and communities should pursue locally defined goals. A coherent comprehensive rural policy is needed that values…

Discusses the history of community control of public education, examining: sub-regional communities (New York City's community school boards and Detroit's regional decentralization); school-based decentralization (preserving professional privilege in Salt Lake City and local school councils in Chicago); balancing bottom-up and top-down; whether…

There are many different forms of community involvement and citizen participation in the schools. But while the quantity is high, the quality and impact are lagging far behind. The author (who is president of the Institute for Responsive Education) advocates the reintroduction of democratic values into education. Through school-based management,…

The author disagrees with James Coleman's contentions (expressed in the preceding article) that we no longer have a rationale for preserving our commitment to public schools and that we should use public funds for a pluralistic conception of education. He offers reasons for renewing our commitment to public education. (Author/WD)

In order to determine why community control groups and low income people have been excluded from power, this study describes and analyzes in detail the politics of education in a typical New York City public school district. (Author/JLF)

The author considers the 1974 Kanawha County textbook censorship controversy as an attempt by fundamentalist parents to banish "alien" moral influences from the schools and to strengthen community control over learning. He focuses on the role and views of school board member Alice Moore, a leading spokesperson of the fundamentalists.…

To understand the kind of education that Black young people are receiving, it is necessary to examine schooling in the context of racism and economic exploitation within the larger society. Because economic and business interests in education are so enormous, Black community control of education is particularly difficult. (Author/GC)