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…

A major component of the decentralization concept has been the focus on the participation of community, staff, and students in the process of educational decision making. On June 28, 1971, the Los Angeles City Board of Education mandated that a school-community advisory council be established in every regular elementary and secondary school in the…

This study examined the views of students, parents, and teachers in three urban middle schools and one elementary school regarding important elements of the school counseling function. Respondents completed a questionnaire with a Likert-type scale, ranging from 0 to 7, on which they rated the importance of several counseling functions such as:…

This document reports on Phase II of a major project designed to study how school systems respond to the educational needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged. The report presents the Local Community Control model as the most effective means to change the school board's typical non responsiveness to the needs of the educationally…

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 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,…

A comparison of the racial composition of parent, community, and teacher representatives elected in autumn 1989 to Local School Councils (LSCs) in Chicago to the racial/ethnic mix of the populations they represent indicates significant racial disparity on a city-wide basis. Statistical data were analyzed from 503 of a total of 540 schools (about…

A study was conducted to examine current concepts and procedures of community college governance in the United States and the United Kingdom. Agendas and minutes of board meetings were analyzed and interviews were conducted with administrators and board members at four institutions, one rural and one urban from each country. The participating…

The recommendations resulting from the Community Conference are contained in this document. The conference focuses on the concept of community schools and its applicability to New York City. The concept involves expanding the use of schools as locations for voluntary activities and community service programs which serve not only the student…