Abstract

Over the past decade, an increasing number of urban centers have placed their school systems under mayoral control. While much of the attention of academics has been focused on the effects of mayoral control on school and student achievement, less scholarly attention has been focused on how these mayor-controlled school systems seek to address the issue of public participation within these centralized systems. In this paper, I study how New York City has sought to address issues of democratic participation in the administration of its mayor-controlled public school system. This study explores the functioning of New York City’s Community Education Councils as avenues for public participation in the New York City public schools system. The paper explores the styles and patterns of functioning of these mechanisms and the avenues through which they are able to contribute to improvements in the quality of education policy and administration. Through a focus on cases of effective action, this study seeks to identify and develop principles and practices that can contribute to the successful operations of such participatory bodies operating in this and other mayor-controlled urban public school systems.