This report is part of a series of special topic reports developed by the Chicago Annenberg Research Project to document key issues and problems affecting the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and the improvement of Chicago public schools in general. The report introduces the concept of instructional program coherence and explains why schools whose…

In December 1988 the Illinois State legislature passed the Chicago School Reform Act, which sought to replace traditional bureaucratic control of the schools with a complex system of decision making by local schools. The act promotes three distinct sites of power in school communities: (1) parent-dominated local school councils (LSCs); (2)…

This document presents a research agenda designed to assist in the implementation of school reform in Chicago, assess its progress, and support school improvement efforts. Conducted by the Consortium on Chicago School Research, data were obtained by: (1) interviews with key public officials in business and state and local government; (2) focus…

The Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 gave a Local School Council (LSC) strong powers not typically seen in such bodies. An overview of how this LSC has worked is offered here. The report draws primarily on the results of a survey of LSC members conducted between May 1995 and February 1996. It examined three primary areas: the background of LSC…

This paper examines the role of politics in the restructuring of Chicago public schools. The Chicago educational system was deliberately altered to change the way decisions were made at the school level. Based on recent research on citizen participation and renewal of democratic institutions, the paper advances a theme that is germane to Chicago…

Through a synthesis of ongoing case studies covering over 500 schools, this report highlights the story of school reform in the Chicago Public Schools (Illinois) at the elementary school level. The analysis draws on a case-study syntheses of field research over the past 3 years, new analyses of survey data from principals and teachers, and…

Americans increasingly distrust their educational institutions and the people who work in them. This paper is about the salience of social trust in urban schools and its implication for school reform. The paper describes outcomes of a 5-year project that explored Chicago's (Illinois) attempt to use expanded local participation as a lever for…

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…

Describes a case study of 12 elementary schools (emphasizing 2 schools) affected by the Chicago School Reform Act, focusing on local contexts and features of school communities that advance or impede change. Results demonstrate the importance of neighborhood contexts and school leadership and the complexities of applying technical expertise. (SLD)