1. How are the new governance structures actually functioning in Chicago's schools?
2. What types of improvement efforts are underway?
3. What connections exist between the evolution of local school governance and the types of school improvement efforts underway?
This report offers an assessment of reform efforts in Chicago elementary schools. Schools had been faced with the challenge of initiating local governance, evaluating their principals, and following a timetable to be at national norms in student learning by 1994. The authors draw on field research, Consortium survey data, and case studies of six Chicago elementary schools to address a variety of questions: How are the new governance structures functioning? What reform efforts are underway? Additionally, the authors look at trends across the system to evaluate whether local school governance patterns are distributed equitably among school communities.
