Chicago High School Redesign Initiative

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 18 claims (11 for, 3 mixed, 4 against) · 7 studies (2 quant-synthesis, 2 associational, 2 qualitative, 1 review), q2–q3 · 2 of 7 report an effect size · 17 claims rest on one study

Description

A school-redesign initiative that supported the creation and development of small Chicago public high schools through partnerships among Chicago Public Schools, funders, and participating school communities.

Components

• CHSRI-supported small high schools in Chicago (11 schools in year two, including conversion and contract schools): The Chicago High School Redesign Initiative created new small high schools within converted large high school buildings (Bowen, Orr, South Shore) plus two Big Picture Company contract schools, designed with "no more than 500 students, a cohesive and self-selected faculty, more flexibility and autonomy than traditional high schools." By 2004, 11 schools participated. Students entered substantially below district averages: average eighth-grade ITBS of 229 at conversion schools versus 246 in non-CHSRI schools, and 23.3 percent of freshmen receiving special education services versus 17.7 percent district-wide. (Sporte et al. (2004))
• CHSRI theory of action: small schools improve outcomes via student support relationships and teacher professional community: CHSRI posited that small, intimate schools would improve student outcomes through two mechanisms: students who felt personally and academically supported would attend more regularly and learn more, and teachers in collaborative, innovation-conducive environments would build professional communities that spurred instructional improvement. Prior CCSR work found the relational elements were present—students reported better relationships with adults and teachers reported more collegiality, innovation, and trust—but "these surveys did not indicate a consistent pattern of instructional strength," and teachers reported teaching no differently than before. (Susan Sporte (2010))
• CHSRI small schools theory of action: The report maps the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative's theory of action: district resources and policies create small voluntary schools with limited bureaucratic regulation, which foster a teacher context of "trust, collective responsibility, and teacher influence"; this context supports instructional-improvement activities leading to higher-quality instruction, while smaller personal environments plus shared curricular themes are expected to raise expectations and academic and personal support for students, ultimately improving outcomes. The report quantitatively tests Boxes 6 through 10 of this framework. (Kahne et al. (2006))

Claims

• Teachers and principals report district inflexibility and insufficient support for teacher-led, shared-decision-making leadership in small-school reform [-W]
• Enrollment policies forcing small schools to accept unassigned neighborhood students constrained the benefits of choice and pushed freshman enrollment above the 125-student cap [-W]
• CHSRI small schools lack a shared vision of high-quality instruction, and the link between school themes and curriculum remains weak in year two [-W]
• Professional development from CHSRI and CPS is valued by some small-school staff but viewed by others as irrelevant, hard to schedule, and poorly connected to school needs [~W]
• Students report fewer violent incidents and a personalized, supportive environment in CHSRI small schools [+W]
• Teachers and principals in CHSRI small schools describe an environment marked by trust, commitment, and strong professional community in year two [+W]
• Outcome differences between CHSRI new-start and redesigned schools were not statistically significant after accounting for incoming student differences [~M]
• CHSRI freshmen earned slightly higher core GPAs than similar students, though averages remained below a C [+M]
• Nearly all CHSRI schools graduated at least as many students as predicted given the students they served [+W]
• CHSRI freshmen were absent about 10 fewer days per year than similar students at similar non-CHSRI schools, a statistically significant gap in every year studied [+M]
• CHSRI students graduated at significantly higher four-year rates than similar students, with differences of 7 to more than 9 percentage points across cohorts [+M]
• CHSRI juniors' ACT scores were no different from similar students' and remained well below college readiness benchmarks [+M]
• The CHSRI graduation advantage was concentrated among students least likely to graduate, exceeding six percentage points in the lowest stratum versus about two in the highest [+M]
• Classrooms in high-performing CHSRI schools showed positive, mutually respectful student-teacher relationships with emotional and academic support [+M]
• Positive teacher–student relationships are associated with greater student engagement and, more weakly, with achievement [+M]
• Teachers in CHSRI small schools report significantly more supportive contexts for reform than similar teachers in other Chicago high schools [+M]
• Differences favoring CHSRI teachers on facilitators of instructional improvement were small and mostly not statistically significant [~M]
• CHSRI students did not score differently on the PSAE in reading or math, and freshmen were not significantly more likely to be on-track [-M]

Related Products and Programmes

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Key Sources

• Sporte, S. E., Kahne, J., & Correa, M. (2004). Notes from the Ground: Teachers, principals, and students' perspectives on the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative, year two. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/notes-ground-teachers-principals-and-students-perspectives-chicago-high-school-redesign
• Susan Sporte, Marisa de la Torre. (2010). Chicago High School Redesign Initiative: Schools, Students, and Outcomes. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, Urban Education Institute. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/chicago-high-school-redesign-initiative-schools-students-and-outcomes
• Kahne, J. E., Sporte, S., de la Torre, M., with Easton, J. Q. (2006). Small High Schools on a Larger Scale: The First Three Years of the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/small-high-schools-larger-scale

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	chicago-high-school-redesign-initiative
aliases	chicago-high-school-redesign-initiative-chsri
title	Chicago High School Redesign Initiative
description	A school-redesign initiative that supported the creation and development of small Chicago public high schools through partnerships among Chicago Public Schools, funders, and participating school communities.
status	review
moved_from	element/chsri-small-high-schools-element, theory/chsri-small-schools-theory-of-action
product_kind	programme
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	2 — sporte-2004, susan-sporte-2010

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