Three eras of Chicago school reform: Decentralization, Accountability, Diversification¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 7 claims (7 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The report organizes 20 years of Chicago school reform into three eras defined by district leadership and central reform policies. Era 1 (1988–1995, "Decentralization") devolved authority to Local School Councils; Era 2 (1996–2001, "Accountability") under Paul Vallas introduced test-based promotion standards, probation, and consequences; Era 3 (2002–2009, "Diversification") under Arne Duncan opened new charter and contract schools, closed poorly performing schools, and expanded data use. The framework serves as the organizing axis for all trend analyses in the report, which emphasizes that "each era of reform built on the reforms of the prior period."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• District-level longitudinal student-level data allowing trend construction across policy regimes

Constraints¶

• The report states it cannot draw conclusions about the effects of particular policies, since changes reflect the totality of interacting policies, programs, and demographic shifts

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students in an urban public school district

Target Learning Objectives¶

• District-level academic achievement, graduation, and college readiness

Claims¶

• Cps Graduation Rates Improved Without Performance Decline [+M]
• Cps Math Incremental Reading Flat [+M]
• Cps Racial Gaps Increased African American Students [+M]
• ACT scores rose even with more test takers, growing most in Era 3 in selective enrollment and racially integrated schools [+W]
• Chicago school organizational supports (leadership, professional capacity, parent involvement) improved across eras, but instructional quality did not, and student-reported teacher support declined after 2005 [+W]
• Publicly reported school accountability statistics are not useful for measuring achievement trends over time [+W]
• Percent meeting standards is an imprecise metric whose cut-score concentration produced the Era 2 misconception that Chicago taught basic skills better than high-level skills [+W]

Related Theories¶

• Chicago's three-pronged theory of change: classroom instruction, schools as the unit of change, and differentiated district support
• Five Chicago school turnaround reform models mapped to four federal intervention models
• Chicago probation policy theory of action: consequences combined with support increase educator motivation and capacity
• Competing theories of action for school change in Chicago: business-oriented, teaching-and-learning, community-dialogue/equity, and parental-control views
• Turnaround schools as a distinct category of school improvement

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Luppescu, S., Allensworth, E. M., Moore, P., de la Torre, M., Murphy, J., with Jagesic, S. (2011). Trends in Chicago's Schools Across Three Eras of Reform. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/trends-chicagos-schools-across-three-eras-reform-full-report