This book provides the educational practitioner and community participants with the practical knowledge needed to follow a participatory governance process within an existing bureaucracy. Chapter 1 presents the principles of participatory governance and identifies various mind-sets that have developed over many decades of traditional education. Chapter 2 provides guidelines for defining the purpose of education and accommodating varying learning potentials. Building blocks, or elements, of successful participatory governance such as community involvement, team building, pyramiding, visioning, and consensus building are described in the third chapter. Chapter 4 discusses five steps for implementing a formal participatory governance plans, and chapter 5 describes obstacles to implementation. The final chapter addresses issues in site-based budgeting and staffing, assessment, and daily creative classroom interaction. Each chapter contains references. Information is included on National Training Associates, a training and consulting firm. (A list of 22 suggested readings is included.) (LMI)