Lessons Learned From Chicago

• In Event: Nurturing Consortia in the Maelstrom of Education Reform: Conversations With Chicago, New York City, Baltimore, and Los Angeles

Abstract

The Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) at the University of Chicago was created in 1990 after the passage of the Chicago School Reform Act that decentralized governance of the city's public schools. Since then CCSR has undertaken research on many of Chicago's school reform efforts, some of which have been embraced by other cities as well. Thus CCSR studies have also informed broader national movements in public education. Recent research includes an examination of the effect of school closings (When Schools Close: Effects on Displaced Students in Chicago Public Schools, October 2009) and teacher mobility (The Schools Teachers Leave: Teacher Mobility in Chicago Public Schools, June 2009) on student achievement; longitudinal research on postsecondary preparation and outcomes among Chicago public high school students (From High School to the Future: Making Hard Work Pay Off, April 2009); and a study of student outcomes in small schools created by the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative (Chicago High School Redesign Initiative: Schools, Students, and Outcomes,
June 2010, through a partnership between the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and local foundations). In addition, CCSR recently released Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago (University of Chicago Press, January 2010). Based on CCSR’s extensive longitudinal data on the Chicago Public Schools, the book details the five “essential supports” integral to the success or failure of urban schools. Organizing Schools for Improvement was critically praised and is widely used by practitioners.
A number of features distinguish CCSR from other research organizations: its comprehensive data archive, a focus on one place – Chicago, engagement with a diverse group of stakeholders, a wide range of methods and multiple investigators, and a commitment to sharing research findings with diverse publics. CCSR’s research helps build capacity for school reform by identifying what matters for student success and school improvement, creating critical indicators to chart progress, and conducting theory-driven evaluation to identify how programs and policies are working.

Author

• Paul D. Goren, CASEL