Purpose: This study explored implementation of the middle school concept (MSC) in Illinois middle-level schools, examining relationships between MSC implementation and schools' relative wealth, racial/ethnic composition, and achievement levels. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study utilized a sample of 137 Illinois middle-level…

When former U.S. congressman and Obama administration chief of staff Rahm Emanuel marched triumphantly into the Chicago mayor's office in 2011, he promised to revamp Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in ways that had barely been contemplated in 16 years of mayoral control over the city's sprawling public-school system. This article discusses and…

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller "hotspots"--are to "nontraditional" problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and…

The superintendency has historically been vulnerable to high turnover. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the turnover among two groups of Illinois superintendents: those in school districts with severe financial problems, and those in districts without such problems. The purpose was to determine the relationship between…

Empirical studies of the school finance reforms of the 1970s have not indicated that equity has been satisfactorily achieved in all cases. The methods of equity analysis used and the data bases analyzed in those studies have differed enough to prevent ready comparison or the formulation of overall assessments of the effects of school finance…

Analyzes data on the economic prospects of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin--including demographic and economic trends, trends in taxation systems, school revenue and expenditure trends, and future revenue prospects--and offers prognoses for individual states. Generally, short-range revenue prospects are bleak, and long-range…

Findings of a study that determined the relationship between property taxes and individual adjusted gross income and that examined the feasibility of using these data to define an "income wealth" measure by school district are presented in this paper. Illinois Department of Revenue computer tapes for the tax years 1986-88 were analyzed;…

This study examined the relationship between operating tax rates and selected socioeconomic variables for Illinois school districts. Districts were separately ranked by operating tax rates and then divided into four equal quartiles--low tax effort, low medium tax effort, high medium tax effort, and high tax effort. Discriminant analysis was used…

On November 12, 2003, over 70 policymakers, fiscal analysts, and academics gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to examine the fiscal condition of the state government sector. The conference was cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the National Tax Association. Despite a shallow national recession that ended in…

The purpose of the study discussed in this paper was to determine the existence of both a simple wealth neutrality and of a conditional wealth neutrality in special education finance in the state of Illinois. These two concepts are used to determine the presence of equity in public school funding. The research design involved the classifying of…

Illinois' education finance plan is described in the first of this report's two chapters, and the second chapter considers the finance plan's equity. Chapter 1 covers the state's Resource Equalizer Aid Program and the tax revenue it guarantees districts; the calculation of maximum tax guarantees and local shares; the apportionment of state aid;…

Based on a definition of equity that includes both equality in expenditure per pupil and fiscal neutrality, this paper examines equity in Illinois school finance and makes recommendations for its improvement. Following a brief introduction outlining deterioration of equity since 1977, part 2 describes further reasons for this deterioration. The…

In less than 2 years after the publication of the national report "A Nation at Risk," an overwhelming majority of states adopted many of the educational reform measures advocated in the report. The rapid adoption of the reforms among states with different political cultures, policy traditions, and partisan control raises the question of…

The equity of public school funding in Illinois is investigated in this report. A longitudinal, cartographic methodology examines the county as the unit of analysis for the school years 1972-73 through 1990-91. Findings indicate that Illinois school districts are currently more unequal than when the state equalization aid formula state was adopted…

States within certain regions (like the Great Lakes area) are probably incapable of financing any major educational reform. The declining Illinois public school system exemplifies this predicament. However, change in the form of a more efficient organization of Illinois school districts is both feasible and likely. (RDN)