Like other urban school districts, CPS has undergone profound changes over the past three decades. A timeline of forces that shaped reform efforts begins three decades ago:
| 1980 |
The Illinois legislature created the Chicago School Finance Authority to oversee the system's budget, and called for the replacement of all School Board members. |
| 1987 |
Teachers struck for a record 19 days, the 9th strike since 1969, and U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett declared Chicago's public schools the “worst in the nation.” |
| 1988 |
Corporate leaders joined community activists in lobbying for school reform legislation in Springfield. With the Chicago School Reform Act (PA85-1418), the Illinois State Legislature granted control of CPS schools to local community school councils and principals. Individual schools were given significant authority for making curricular, policy, hiring, resource allocation, and partnership decisions. The authority was vested in each Local School Council (LSC) composed of the principal, six parents, two teachers, and two local community members, and, in high schools, a student. |
| 1989 |
The School Board was replaced, again. |
| 1994 |
Persistently poor achievement by students prompted CPS Superintendent Argie Johnson to identify schools for varying levels of remediation. Schools with the lowest averages of students who met or exceeded state standards would be placed on “probation.” |
| 1995 |
The Chicago School Amendatory Act (PA89-15) was passed by the Illinois state legislature to institutionalize mayoral control over the district with mayoral appointment of a district chief executive officer (CEO). Mayor Richard J. Daley and his CEO focused on accountability, high-stakes testing, and ending social promotion. |
| 1996 |
Illinois State Board of Education changed teacher certification and endorsement requirements; the Legislature approved the creation of charter schools, 15 in Chicago. The CPS standard for students meeting or exceeding state standards was 15%, and CPS CEO Paul Vallas placed 109 schools on probation.
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| 1997 |
Chicago disallowed “social promotion” for the first time: 41,000 students in grades 3, 6, and 9 were held back for failing to meet minimum standards. More than half were promoted after attending mandatory summer school. |
| 1998 |
The Corey H. v. The Chicago Board of Education lawsuit was settled in response to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1975. IDEA and the settlement required that students with disabilities spend the maximum amount of time with their non-disabled peers and have access to the same curricula. They also defined requirements for the certification of special education teachers.
The CPS standard for probation was raised from 15% to an average of 20% of students meeting or exceeding state standards.
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| 1999 |
State legislature revised the Amendatory Act to restore the original title of the Board of Education of the City of Chicago, and expanded the Board to seven members, appointed by the mayor. |
| 2001 |
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. This federal legislation drove CPS accountability standards for schools and teachers. NCLB aimed to tie student achievement to district accountability and federal funding in new ways.
Mayor Daley appointed a new School Board President and a new Chief Executive Officer, Arne Duncan. Duncan selected Barbara Eason-Watkins as the district’s Chief Education Officer. Among subsequent changes announced:
- Reorganization of the regional office structure from 6 regional offices to 24 Area Instructional Offices to provide more supervision and support for schools
- New $31 million Chicago Reading Initiative, calling for all elementary teachers to devote 2 hours daily to literacy. Reading specialists were deployed from the central office to 114 schools where at least two-thirds of students read below grade level. This effort also provided literacy leadership training to high school teams and provided funds for school libraries.
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