This narrative study examines a failed attempt to unionise an urban charter school. To investigate why this effort failed, I construct two competing 'stories of the school' -- the discursive narratives each side told about how the school operates, who it serves, and how it fits into a larger battle for educational, racial, and economic justice. I…

Over the last 30 years, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has become a rare model for urban school district improvement. That success stems, in part, from an expansive network of nonprofit organizations, advocates and grassroots community leaders, business leaders, and philanthropic funders that work together -- often in partnership with the district…

Background: Little is known about the cost-effectiveness of parent training programs when offered universally in U.S. elementary schools in disadvantaged urban communities. Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of a universal school-based implementation study of the Chicago Parent Program (CPP). Methods: CPP was offered universally from…

Increasing demographic changes present teachers with the opportunity to educate diverse learners. The opportunity has associated challenges, such as cultural gaps between teachers and students and persisting academic performance gaps. The general problem addressed by this study was that teachers often report feeling unprepared and unequipped to…

Equitably expanding technology access among K-12 students has long been viewed as critical for equalizing educational opportunities. But these interventions may influence students' academic outcomes in unexpected ways. Prior research suggests key technological resources, like broadband Internet, are a double-edged sword, conferring both…

The use of instructional technology resources in the teaching and learning process may influence student academic achievement. The problem addressed in this study is a lack of understanding of the effectiveness of instructional technology resources on elementary student academic achievement. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental…

School social workers provide mental health services to millions of students each year. However, few studies focus on how social workers generate funding and other support for school mental health. The purpose of this study is to identify the continuum of school mental health supports and how social workers advocate for and generate these…

Educational accountability is dominated by a focus on test scores to assess academic achievement. An emerging trend toward "next-generation" accountability includes a broader conception of student learning and multiple metrics. A policy design approach is used to analyze this trend. Four design elements--goals, actors, metrics, and…

This longitudinal comparative analysis examines the experiences of two candidates--one enrolled in an urban residency program and one enrolled in the residency's partner, university-based program--to consider the role that context plays in teacher preparation. Drawing from complexity theory and critical realism, we consider how the interplay of…

Since 1980, Chicago's United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) has been a major player in school reform, organising Mexican-American communities to build a neighbourhood high school, founding a local technical institute, passing radical school governance reform, and launching a major charter network. At UNO's apex in 2013, a corruption scandal…

An old, retired professor is urged by a younger ex-colleague to visit a new consolidated metropolitan school district to learn about new school policies and new technologies. He discovers extensive regional-area use of high-speed trains and autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, and 3D printing. The new transport technologies allow all…

This study examines the voices of parents that emerged during a citywide movement to influence a school district's decisions on school closings. The work explores the experiences of parent leaders who reside in a working-class Black community in Chicago where four schools were impacted by the closures. In the context of Chicago, I characterize…

"How a City Learned to Improve Its Schools" tells the story of the extraordinary thirty-year school reform effort that changed the landscape of public education in Chicago. Acclaimed educational researcher Anthony S. Bryk joins five coauthors directly involved in Chicago's education reform efforts, Sharon Greenberg, Albert Bertani, Penny…

Literacy skills are instrumental to unlocking a child's full potential and have a well-established link to long-term life outcomes. Children who can't read at grade level by 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out of school, have fewer career prospects, and earn lower incomes as adults. However, despite some progress on literacy rates,…

Background: Strategies used by wellness teams (WTs) to foster local wellness policy (LWP) implementation have been documented, yet there remains a need to better understand how WTs respond to district-level LWP requirements, particularly when bundled with additional health-related policies. This study's goal was to explore how WTs implement…