Using the 1897 reform of the Atlanta public schools as an example, the authors conclude that class conflict is not a necessary condition for urban reform, and that the sources of progressive reform are more complex than the class conflict model has often implied. (IS)

Problems in the structure and responsibilities of the University Grants Committee, Britain's national higher education funding and decision-making agency, are outlined and changes in national policy toward higher education are suggested. (MSE)

Summarizes Quebec's White Paper reforms, i.e., schools rather than school boards are to become the pivot, parents are to become involved in management and control, confessionality to be abolished, universal sufferage to be abolished, school boards no longer intermediary with Ministry, schools to become more pluralist, schools quaranteed 5-year…

Discusses the Walker Commission Report in terms of three more immediate effects, i.e., need for information gathering and valid evaluation, creation of a smaller body of effective school administrators, and, as the new structures emerge to alter administrative jobs, additional structural changes. (AH)

The thesis here is that the process whereby parents lost control of education began well before the current dispute over bussing. Views the process of parental political disenfranchisement in four phases: the period of "maximum feasible participation" (1835-1900); the period of "reform" and "efficiency" (1900-54); the school as change agent…

Three categories of structural characteristics (career processes, role relationships, organizational context) associated with the principal's role shape behavior in ways that restrain the rate at which principals initiate change. (IAH)

Describes problems in rural education and highlights reform programs in rural schools. Many reform programs combine school improvement with rural economic development. Barriers to reform include the One Best System Model and consolidation. Local control of schools is a key to successful reform. (KS)

Based on a study of five major school systems, concludes following about site-based management: it is a reform of entire system; it will lead to real changes only if it is basic reform strategy; it will evolve over time and develop distinctive characters, goals, operating styles; it requires rethinking of accountability; parental choice is…

Local system for public school governance has changed little since early twentieth century, when conception of school boards as trusteeships and superintendents as chief managers changed school-operating boards into policy boards. Since the late 1960s, local boards have reverted to politicized boards, increasingly involved in district…

Research documents that gender-specific differences in educational experiences have a disproportionately negative effect on girls' academic performance, career goals, self-confidence, and accomplishments later in life. Cites demographic facts and outlines three steps school boards can take to improve the educational experience of all children,…

Analyzes current and future directions related to the reform of educational governance in Quebec. A brief historical backdrop addresses the three strands of reform. Questions whether the necessary and sufficient conditions for completion of the goals of reform are present or planned. (CMK)

In 1969 after an intense political campaign, three Mexican Americans won seats on the board of trustees of the Cucamonga (California) School District--the Chicano Movement's first successful effort at community control of a school board. Political organizing strategies, community-initiated self-help projects, the new board's educational reforms,…

Policy makers have initiated a dramatic period of standards-based reform for New York State students, an effort of great relevance across the United States. Although comprehensive high school examinations and state-endorsed Regents diplomas are over 100 years old, the demand that all students must earn college-preparatory diplomas is new. This…

The leadership turnover in America's largest school districts has increased so rapidly that the average urban superintendent tenure is only about two years. In fact, many urban superintendents are hired knowing that they will either be terminated or forced to resign in a short period of time. This cycle has created a class of superintendents who…