A NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL BOARD: ITS INFANCY, ITS CRISES, ITS GROWTH.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	A NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL BOARD: ITS INFANCY, ITS CRISES, ITS GROWTH.
Authors:	Foster, Car M., Back, J.
Source:	Education. Winter74, Vol. 95 Issue 2, p145. 18p.
Subjects:	Community schools, Teaching, School boards
Abstract:	What happens when the parents and teachers of a neighborhood school are given the opportunity to govern that school--to make decisions about policy, about staff, about educational philosophy? This article is an exciting account of what it means really to trust local individuals to do a responsible job. To the best of my knowledge it is the first public recounting of the difficulties and the growth that follow upon the fearful assumption of such responsibility. Fully to understand this article (which hopefully is but one chapter in a book about the Louisville experiment) a word of introduction is necessary. The Louisville urban school system was in a downward self-destructive spiral, similar to the experience of many inner-city systems. Progressively declining achievement scores, increases in truancy and vandalism, tremendous pupil apathy, were some of the signs. The context was a racially mixed community, so poor that 34% of the students came from families with incomes of $2,000 or tess, with all the deficiencies in health, recreational and educative opportunities that are implied by that figure. Faced with this desperate situation a courageous school board employed Dr. Newman Walker as Superintendent and gave him a free hand in trying to reverse the spiral. With an innovative staff Dr. Walker set out to accomplish three major aims. The first was to change the psychological and attitudinal climate of the schools through a massive series of human relations and organizational development workshops. The second involved efforts, largely successful, to modify teaching methods through introduction of team teaching, use of teacher corps interns, and use of parent volunteers from the community. Finally the governance structure was basically modified by the creation of neighborhood school boards, giving them as much autonomy as was legally possible, a policy of trust in ordinary individuals. This action and this policy were thoroughly supported by the Louisville Bo... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Description
Abstract:	What happens when the parents and teachers of a neighborhood school are given the opportunity to govern that school--to make decisions about policy, about staff, about educational philosophy? This article is an exciting account of what it means really to trust local individuals to do a responsible job. To the best of my knowledge it is the first public recounting of the difficulties and the growth that follow upon the fearful assumption of such responsibility. Fully to understand this article (which hopefully is but one chapter in a book about the Louisville experiment) a word of introduction is necessary. The Louisville urban school system was in a downward self-destructive spiral, similar to the experience of many inner-city systems. Progressively declining achievement scores, increases in truancy and vandalism, tremendous pupil apathy, were some of the signs. The context was a racially mixed community, so poor that 34% of the students came from families with incomes of $2,000 or tess, with all the deficiencies in health, recreational and educative opportunities that are implied by that figure. Faced with this desperate situation a courageous school board employed Dr. Newman Walker as Superintendent and gave him a free hand in trying to reverse the spiral. With an innovative staff Dr. Walker set out to accomplish three major aims. The first was to change the psychological and attitudinal climate of the schools through a massive series of human relations and organizational development workshops. The second involved efforts, largely successful, to modify teaching methods through introduction of team teaching, use of teacher corps interns, and use of parent volunteers from the community. Finally the governance structure was basically modified by the creation of neighborhood school boards, giving them as much autonomy as was legally possible, a policy of trust in ordinary individuals. This action and this policy were thoroughly supported by the Louisville Bo... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	00131172