Background
Stakeholder participation is a comprehensive approach to principled, democratic practice that sets out to achieve the highest levels of shared responsibility, leadership and accountability. Public education systems must be built on and bound by high quality stakeholder participation, evidenced by authentic buy-in, trust and mutual accountability among all of the people who comprise the school community.
Stakeholder participation models in high functioning public schools seize the opportunities and face the challenges of achieving and sustaining principled, democratic practices within public institutions that serve diverse, vested interests. More than a system of “checks and balances,” effective stakeholder participation creates quality public school environments that are student, community and success-oriented, build the social and political capital of all stakeholders to collectively self-govern, create high level educational processes and fulfill all human rights standards.

Ensuring that students, parents and other stakeholders have a voice in the vast range of school decisions enhances preparation for citizenship, improves schools and leads to a well supported educational system.22 It also builds relationships across generations while creating community investment in quality schools for all students. Finally, creating democratic institutions in schools gives teachers and non-administrative school staff a voice in decisions that affect their employment, builds teacher investment and involvement in the school community, and helps establish supportive systems to improve teacher retention.

It is essential that stakeholder participation be re-characterized as both an active, inclusionary practice in and out of the school environment, as well as a means of preventing discrimination in the provision of high quality education to all children. To invoke a process in the name of stakeholder participation is to invoke the fundamental challenge of our democracy—effective and inclusive self-governance ‘by the people for the people’. While this challenge has not always been met in practice, our efforts towards democratically based schooling must go unabated—the health of our public education system depends on it. Schools must develop the infrastructure for supporting and sustaining themselves, and the shared commitment, vision and focus required to educate all students. SEE http://simplysheilas.wix.com/ppureportcard2ndpage#!prezi/hhhkh