Chicago has tried the top down model of Education Reform. It hasn’t all been roses but it has given us some good tools to work with. The best schools in Chicago have the following school-reform characteristics:

• Parent-led Local School Councils, which select their principals

• Principals with four-year performance contracts negotiated by the Parent-Led Local School Council

• Unionized teachers

1. Expanding the numbers of Parent-led Local School Councils and giving them better training in budgeting, hiring and curriculum customization would seem to be a cost-efficient and effective way to improve schools. PURE and Designs for Change have both done excellent work on how to get this done.

2. There should be an elected school board in a publically funded campaign model so that everyone can participate and because the effectiveness of LSC’s argues for more public participation not less.

3. The Mayor should not be implementing Performance Counts legislation because it will do real damage to our educational system.

4. Expanding the Community School Model as envisioned by the Annenberg Institute and as carried out in not enough neighborhoods in Chicago.

5. The Mayor should expand programs like the College Bridge Program that lets CPS juniors and seniors acclimate to college while earning college credits and fulfilling high school electives at no cost to students. Chicago Public Schools, through its partnership with Northeastern, assumes the cost of tuition, textbooks and public transportation expenses.

6. The call for longer school days never stops. It’s as if some has decided that going to the same dysfunctional system longer will work. A better question would be what defines a quality school day? How much reading, writing, math, history, physical education, science or civics can anyone learn or impart in 45 minutes, with 20 minute lunches and no recess for younger kids? More of the same is idiotic but that’s our plan 90 more minutes of exactly the same thing.