Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 11120125
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED105563 AUTHOR: Lutz, Frank W.
TITLE: The School Board as Meta-Mediators.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1975
NOTE: 20 p.; Paper presented at American Educational
Research Association Annual Meeting (60th, Washington,
D.C.,
March 31-April 4, 1975)
ABSTRACT: School districts are cultural systems that may be
classified along a continuum from homogeneous to
heterogeneous according to the diversity represented in
their cultural composition. School boards are the decision
making system that, given the competitive federal, state,
and local demands, decides on the particular educational
policies and programs available to a cultural system. As
such, school boards are meta-mediators in public education.
While the school board may respond in either elite or arena
council fashion, the tradition of school boards in America
dictates an elite council process. This kind of council
action provides a poor fit between such boards and the
multicultural nature of most urban school districts. The
arena type action is a poor fit with homogeneous cultures.
Boards that do not fit with the culture of their district
are not effective as meta-mediators. The model suggested
here provides an opportunity to evaluate the fit between
the culture of the school board and the culture of the
school district. (Author/IRT)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Cultural-Awareness; Cultural-Differences;
Cultural-Traits; Elementary-Secondary-Education; Governance
; Political-Influences; Political-Power; Politics-; School
District-Autonomy; State-School-District-Relationship;
Superintendents-; Systems-Approach
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Boards-of-Education; *Cultural-Pluralism;
*Decision-Making; *Minority-Groups;
*Political-Socialization
This is an ERIC database document. ERIC is the National
Education Information Network for providing ready access to
the literature of education - descriptions of exemplary
programs, research and development efforts, and related
information that can be used in developing more effective
educational programs. The ERIC database is currently
available on CD-ROM in the main library (ground floor of
the West Wing) at Michigan State University.To locate ERIC
documents in the library: identify the first line of each
record (i.e., the field ERIC TITLE NUMBER). ED following
ERIC TITLE NUMBER indicates an ERIC document, an
unpublished research study.
Most of these items are available in the Micrforms Library,
located on the 3rd floor of the West Wing. All you need is
the six digit ED number.
If EJ follows ERIC TITLE NUMBER the item is a journal
article. The complete journal name islisted after the code
JOURNAL.
To find the call number and location of a journal you may
use the printed JOURNALS INDEXED IN C.I.J.E. located at the
ERIC CD-ROM workstation and at the Cosial Sciences and
Humanities/GovernmentDocuments Reference Desk. You may also
type the journal name, without the dashes "-" , into a
MAGIC terminal.
This information is for educational purposes only. References
to commercial products or trade names does not imply
endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not
mentioned. This information becomes public property upon
publication and may be printed verbatim with credit to MSU
Extension. Reprinting cannot be used to endorse or advertise
a commercial product or company.
This file was generated from data base DP on 06/25/02.
Data base DP was last revised on 12/95/ .
For more information about this data base or its contents please contact
cook@msue.msu.edu . Please read our
disclaimer for important
information about using our site.