The Opportunity to Engage: How Race, Class, and Institutions Structure Access to Educational Deliberation

Abstract

Educators have long discussed the value of community engagement in schooling, especially in troubled urban systems. However, most attention has focused on either the consequences of engagement or the willingness of groups or individuals to take existing opportunities for participation. The questions of whether and why there may be systematic variation in how open school systems are to community involvement have been largely overlooked. Using the Council of Urban Boards of Education's 1992 survey and U.S. census data, the authors examined these questions using a sample of 57 urban school districts. It was found that urban communities with larger percentages of African American students provide increased avenues for participation, whereas poorer districts and those in the South offer fewer avenues. These findings have important implications for educational equity and the promise of community participation in school governance.