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Responding to the need for empirical data regarding the exercise of parental control under current finance practices in public education, this study examined the extent to which parents select their children's schooling by locating the family residence with schools in mind and the extent to which parents maintain frequent and self-initiated contact with their children's teachers. Data were gathered from parent interviews and student reading achievement tests in 153 families with fifth-grade children. The families were stratified according to the expenditure per pupil and median family income of the districts in which they resided. Forty-three percent of the households chose residence without consideration of school, while 37 percent located because of their school's reputation and 20 percent because of specific school characteristics. Forty-seven percent of the households reported few contacts with teachers which were initiated and structured by the teacher; 53 percent reported larger numbers of contacts, most of which the parents had arranged around specific inquiries. The strongest predictor of both school selection and school contact variables was parents' educational attainment. (Author/JEH)

Interviews with parents of fifth-graders in 153 urban and suburban Chicago (Illinois) area households provided researchers with answers to several questions about the nature of parent participation in education. The researchers considered parent participation to be an aspect of educational politics. They measured the level of participation at the "micro-level," where household and schoolroom meet, by analyzing the frequency, degree of self-initiation, and content of the contacts maintained by parents with their children's teachers. The study found that these three factors were positively related to the parents' educational attainment, preferences for more individualized instruction, and higher expectations for their children's future schooling. Higher levels of teacher contact were maintained for male children and contacts were more frequent when the children's academic capabilities were rated either extremely high or extremely low as measured by a test of reading comprehension. Parents new to schools also maintained higher levels of contact, while longer-term residents initiated fewer interactions. The mother's employment status, the number of children in the family, and the parents' satisfaction with their children's schooling experiences did not correlate with the participation measures. (Author/PGD)

Sensitivity to context variables marks the third phase of effective schools research (ESR). The first phase was one of explicit concern for equity, challenging the works of Coleman and Jencks which suggested that achievement differences were more associated with family background than school variables. This research focused on low socioeconomic status urban schools. Phase two was characterized by implicit concerns for efficiency. While controlling for financial expenditures, those variables associated with achievement outcomes were investigated. The third developmental phase of ESR may draw on research done outside of the rubric of ESR to understand forces present in individual classrooms, larger organizational settings, and communities. Using a heuristic of political economy permits researchers to examine the effect of multiple variables on both equity and efficiency of resource utilization and learning. (The stories of two elementary schools are presented to illustrate possible differences in school environments.) (MDE)

Educational reform commissions and their reports can be traced back to the massive expansion of public schools during the 1890s. The reports of reform commissions over the years follow the same format: problems are identified, experts are selected to examine them, and improvement proposals are recommended. This report examines 14 national studies over nine decades from the 1890s to the 1980s. Four factors are common to the reform-by-commission process: (1) longevity, (2) generality of recommendations, (3) weak implementation strategies, and (4) limited direct impact of findings and recommendations on school system and classroom behavior. This paper explores these factors and attempts to understand the reform commission phenomenon. The persistence of national commissions cannot be explained in terms of diagnostic and prescriptive effectiveness based on a rational, scientific method. An alternative view stressing the symbolic character of organizational behavior and commission activity as a tribal ceremony is equally difficult to substantiate. A third alternative (bringing together both rational/prescriptive and symbolic/ceremonial elements) is "trickle down" reform, analogous to supply side economics. This approach sanctifies the control and authority of local actors (educators, parents, and the public) and directs them to certain elements in curriculum, instruction, or organization needing improvement. In this view, the commission reform process becomes an act of faith predicated upon pronouncements made with enough strength and drama to survive in spirit, if not letter, the filtering outcomes of trickle down. Commissions do not change schools; local educators and parents are the true reformers. Forty-eight references conclude the document. (MLH)