The Principal and Community-School Connections in Chicago's Radical Reform

Abstract

This study presents a case of a coordinated children's service project in Chicago's decentralizing school system. This case identifies issues, problems, and lessons concerning school-site administration that emerge from the unique combination of policy initiatives designed to open schools to community influence and at the same time extend schools' service outreach to the community. It focuses specifically on how principals shape a complicated and often contradictory array of community-school connections associated with this reform within a reform. The case is analyzed using theory examining persistence and change in organizations.