Understanding Achievement (and Other) Changes Under Chicago School Reform

Abstract

This article focuses on changes in student achievement in Chicago schools since the passage of the 1988 Chicago School Reform Act, and notes corresponding changes in funding, staffing, and leadership. At the center is a 5-year longitudinal study of 14 Chicago schools (10 elementary and 4 high schools) that were chosen through a stratified, random selection process. The schools were studied intensively, with particular concern for tracking the effects of changes in the governance structure of the schools resulting from the 1988 reforms. Changes in the principalship in these schools had a significant impact on achievement scores. The results of this study are linked to achievement changes that have occurred since the adoption of the 1995 amendments to the reform act that put primary responsibility for the administration of the school district in the hands of the city's mayor.