You are on page 1of 3

NotesonShipps,D.

(2003);TheBusinessmansEducator

Reference: Shipps, Dorothy. 2003. The Businessmans Educator: Mayoral Takeover and Nontraditional Leadership in Chicago, in Powerful Reforms with Shallow Roots, ed. Larry Cuban and Michael Usdan, pp. 16-3437 (NY: Teachers College Press) Six years before the article was written there was a major experiment in Chicago = The mayor took power over the public schools
Origins of mayoral control
Summer 1995 - Cost and performance were disappointing, so the Governor (R) out Major Richard M Daley (D) in total control The intention was also to find someone accountable In 1998 a law re-centralized governance in Chicago Schools and removed educators from the system's top decision-making posts The new management team was given great fiscal flexibility All obstacles to outsourcing and privatization were removed There was a lot of bargaining with the Chicago Teacher Union, and they were forbidden from striking for 18 moths It ruffled some taboo feathers: that the Government uses schools to pay politic favors The local business groups were more concerned on lowering costs and limiting union influence Some of those groups were: Illinois Business Education Committee (IBEC) Sent their suggestions to the Government Commercial Club of Chicago had the goal of improving schools to encourage economic growth Chicago United and Leadership for Quality Education Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Illinois Manufactures Association (IMA) Was pounding their ideas since 100 years ago Illinois Business Roundtable (IBR) established in 1991 They wanted someone to take ownership of a problematic system They were more willing to support Daley because he was a businessman and son of a businessman. Daley's competition, Harold Washington, died in 1987 and Daley was elected to fill Washington's remaining term

Pendulum swings of decentralization and centralization


In 1998 a coalition between local business and community activists reformed the law to make control more decentralized Tried to ensure that the control wasn't leaning towards one pole Created the School Board Nominating Commitee (SNBC) to identify candidates The structure was inclusive, but inefficient Fiscal stability became very difficult PreparedbyAriadna73

Page1of3

NotesonShipps,D.(2003);TheBusinessmansEducator The problem is that schools didn't do anything with the power, because the school leaders were happy the way they were The Mayoral control is a backslash to that 1988 reform The business association leaders were dissatisfied with the management at the schools They started to insist on oversight by an independent group and gave control to the School Finance Authority (SFA) who was business-led Daley complained of micromanaging The net effect was to fragment governance Finally they abolished the SNBC and cut powers from the SFA

The mayor's managerial coups


The law as approved only with 4 democratic voters (may 31, 1995) The mayor was backed up by a team of CEOs that he highly trusted Paul Vallas He soon abandoned the experiment started to campaign for Governor of Illinois! Arne Duncan No format training on education Gery Chico Not elected as CEO because it is not realistic to select an educator as a CEO The achievements were spectacular the next 6 years Vallas erased the deficit (150M) in just a few months Bankers helped to build 26 new school buildings Negotiated 4 year contract with the union Bargained wage raises in exchange for respecting the law Used complicated figures to escape tenure of many teachers By outsourcing, may services were really high quality now The meetings were brief and the only fights were over taking credit or distributing the blame, but everyone was happy They also used the media to their advantage, and were very popular

Implications and consequences


Effects on schooling and academic achievement
The mayor was criticized for his "dictatorial" pressures to have academic improvements "Student failure = no more social promotion" The problem: it is not a good thing to identify under performing students as "failures" He also used a not - widely accepted test to identify those low - performing schools and students The Justice Department began to inquire, and Vallas decided to stick to the test at least for the early 2000's If students did not pass the test, they could not advance to the next level PreparedbyAriadna73

Page2of3

NotesonShipps,D.(2003);TheBusinessmansEducator African-American children were doing really badly while white children were advancing easily The drop-out rate raised dramatically The schools started to be sanctioned, moved to a more serious sanction and back to a less serious sanction, depending on the number of students that passed the tests. There was no real point in all that sanctions system Vallas also started to experiment with dozens of "enrichment" projects and programs to try to improve academic results

Developing teacher and principal capacities


There was no support for principals or teachers A school only gets attention if it is going to be punished

Problems with Public information


Concern: Lack of transparency in the system Lack of data until a few months before Duncan's term was over They say that the system will "welcome critics", but just "do not do it publicly"

Implications for policy makers


Chicago is very politically stable: Democratic since 1931 and Duncan is synonym with government Accountability was a great tool: politicians found the funds for schools The school system is way more complex and cannot be managed by an educator with a couple of courses in management, but a manager without an educational background is a bad idea as well Once the mayor wins control, that is not the end, but the beginning of a learning process Priority: Transparency Priority: Find appropriate measures of performance Caution: High quality educational expertise at the top of the system is a MUST

These six years have left some lessons:


To achieve control, collaboration from leaders business groups and politicians is required Authority is centralized, therefore the policy makers need to insure transparency and democracy Mayors have the power to provide political support to leverage solutions to the problems in the schools Day to day operations in schools need school-experts, not politicians Improving students achievements and instructions is not intuitive. It requires expertise This experiment is not "transparently transferable". What worked in Chicago may not work elsewhere PreparedbyAriadna73

Page3of3

You might also like