In the 1980s and 1990s, state governments began to take over local school districts in cities across the United States. After decades of local resistance to state control, communities are beginning to make strides in their efforts to regain local control. This paper examines local- and state-level stakeholders' perceptions of the return to local…

Newark, New Jersey has been at the forefront of school reform from the civil rights era through more recent efforts to resist neoliberal school reform approaches during the 2010s. Drawing on interviews with activists, policymakers, and school reformers, this paper documents the history of community organizing as a strategy to improve conditions in…

Describes several administrative-community alternatives for governing metropolitan schools: (1) administrative decentralization, (2) community participation, and (3) community control. (CT)

Roles of women teachers and community control of teachers were studied in 1989-90 for 30 urban and 30 rural teachers in Lebowa, a unit of the Transvaal (South Africa). Under apartheid, female teachers were controlled by often-hostile committees and committee members who were frequently illiterate themselves. (SLD)

The author describes the structure of the Hungarian public school system and the impact that urbanization is having on local control and educational quality. Attempts by urban schools to strengthen school-community relationships and to coordinate with other educational and cultural institutions are noted. (SJL)

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)

The 15-year effort to decentralize New York City public schools and thereby implement basic changes in the school system is briefly sketched in this study. The structure of the school system, powers of local boards, central board, and chancellor, school board elections, keeping the public informed, educational impact, and effect on truancy and…

Examines political activist Bayard Rustin's arguments for a teacher-community alliance surrounding the issues of community control and racial separatism during the 1968 New York school crisis. The paper explores Rustin's efforts within the context of the political, racial, and economic realties of the time that prevented coalition building. (GLR)

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)