Social and Cultural Influences on Schooling: A Commentary on the UCEA Knowledge Base Project, Domain I

In 1994, the University Councilfor Educational Administration (UCEA) published the first part of its knowledge base in educational administration. The council set forth to establish 7 domain overviews, to compile key articles and bibliographies, and to create taxonomies and case studies. In the domain overview for social and cultural influences on schooling, the authors argue that (a) illegitimate forms of exclusion provide the foundation of the social and cultural influences on schools; (b) the focus needs to be on the creation of a true democracy; (c) schools are local national and public entities; and (d) efforts should be directed at alleviating the disenfranchisement of students in schools. Implications for practice include the fact that teacher and administrator training programs should pay closer attention to the failure to prepare educators to deal with diverse student bodies. The work on the disenfranchisement of large numbers of students in schools needs to be summarized, synthesized, and reviewed. Also those graduate programs in educational administration that have been successful in enrolling, graduating, and placing members of traditionally underrepresented groups need to be studied Finally, urban schools should be given greater attention in research and policy efforts.