Examines selected Native American child welfare programs in Canada that emphasize community control. Explains genesis of community programs after traditional systems perceived as agents of colonization. Concludes Native control can empower communities and encourage responsive service but explains how problems--including funding, jurisdictional…

This paper details the work of Demos and the Learning and Skills Development Agency to examine how new institutional structures for supporting lifelong learning can develop in ways that best support community-based learning activities in the United Kingdom. Three seminar background papers and notes are provided, each followed by seminar notes.…

Control over a broad range of programs is being shifted back to state and local jurisdictions. Based on focus groups, interviews, and surveys of those who live in or represent organizations with a strong interest in rural America, this report highlights the concerns of rural communities towards these changing intergovernmental relations.…

Examines the relationship between centralization and public education. Suggests that compulsory schooling is key to the increasingly centralized and "managed" nature of society and that the nationalization of schooling has undermined individual rights to liberty and democracy. Advocates that communities be responsible for their children and for…

This essay examines American Indian education from a historical perspective and analyzes the role of the school as an institution in an Indian community. Since the arrival of the white man in America, Indians have faced a world of cultural conflict. Throughout the history of Indian education, their values and way of life have been demeaned. The…

When local school board members in New York City assumed office on 31 local school boards in 1969, this should have resulted in more responsive local boards with sufficient power to control local policy; but this was not the actual result. Specific examination of the decentralization bill, the politics of the election, and the election procedures…

This report is presented in terms of issues and recommendations concerning the Federal role in school finance. Two major points of agreement emerged from the forums: (1) School officials, representatives of organizations, citizens, and parents agree that, if the urban schools in America are to survive, the Federal Government must take a strong…

The pressure of removal of all Indians from the eastern states and territories to the undeveloped West caused the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes to re-frame their basic institutions, including their governments, in an attempt to conform with Anglo American ideas of what was "civilized". Both the Choctaws and Cherokees established…

Argues that local school districts in California have been rendered essentially obsolete by state funding and control due to the combined effects of the "Serrano" decision (requiring statewide school expenditure equalization) and Proposition 13. One board president and two superintendents take issue with this judgment. (TE)

This document examines how Ministries/Departments of Education in Canada and the United States build community-ownership of schools. Common and novel strategies for building educational communities are also discussed using Eisler's "gylanic" society paradigm. Individuals within governmental agencies that work at developing collaborative…

This report examines various school finance issues raised by the California case of Serrano v. Priest. Chapter 1 focuses on the issue of local control; it discusses four methods of providing state aid to education in terms of how they affect local control of schools. Chapter 2 analyzes different remedies for inequitable distribution of funds and…

Underlying present Governmental and private objectives to institute local control over the schools on Indian reservations is the hope that such a policy will improve American Indians' sense of relevance of their own behavior to the outcome of their destiny. Although the connection between community control and sense of personal efficacy has never…

The contents of this book are organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1 discusses methods for organizing schools and communities. It deals with three alternative models for the schools: administrative decentralization, community participation, and community control. It also examines three alternative models for the community: social planning,…

Local control is emphasized in this examination of the roles of state, federal, and local governments in education policy and change. Federal and state role priorities should be to provide resources and stimulation for the major decisions and changes at the school site. The role of the state in school district governance, which has steadily been…

As rural communities strive to meet the demands of both their citizens and of higher levels of government for increased local services, they must rely more and more on outside assistance. The maze and complexity of federal and state mandates forces officials to seek technical assistance from a network of public and private agencies. The dynamics…