In 1989, Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools began an experiment with the radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the story of what happened in Chicago's elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in the reform was the theory that expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational…

A review of the literature on school reform and successful restructuring efforts, with a focus on the decentralization of the Chicago public school system, is the purpose of this paper. Under new legislation, the Chicago Board of Education will be disbanded to encourage citizen control of schools, and will be replaced by a system of individual…

A historical overview and analysis of the decentralization process in Victoria, Australia, is the purpose of this paper. The case study illustrates the impact of conflict between political and administrative agendas on attempts to implement the government-initiated policy decision. The current two-tiered system is composed of central and local…