This report is one of a series of special topic reports developed by the Chicago Annenberg Research Project. It discusses an important reason why schools involved in multiple improvement initiatives do not always improve their students' achievements. It introduces the concept of instructional program coherence and presents new evidence that students in Chicago elementary schools with stronger program coherence show higher gains in student achievement. The report suggests ways in which school leaders, school improvement partners, and policy makers can act to bring about the instructional coherence that will reward their school improvement efforts.

During the 2001-02 school year, Chicago Public Schools officials contracted with the Grow Network to provide supplemental reporting of student test results to parents, teachers, and school administrators. The Grow Network provides a variety of resources, including individualized, printed score reports for parents; classroom-level reports for teachers; and school building reports for principals. CPS engaged the Grow Network as part of its efforts to improve data access and develop greater capacity for "data-driven decision making" in schools.

More than 101,000 students, teachers, and principals across the Chicago public school system participated in the Consortium's 2003 Improving Chicago's Schools survey. Students told us about their school experiences, attitudes, and activities. Teachers and principals told us about instruction in their classrooms and their professional development experiences, and answered our questions about the conditions under which they work. This information about where a school is and how it is developing can help the school assess its progress and plan for the future. Torvalds is the pseudonym for a representative CPS school.

This report is one of a series of special topic reports developed by the Chicago Annenberg Research Project. It discusses an important reason why schools involved in multiple improvement initiatives do not always improve their students' achievements. It introduces the concept of instructional program coherence and presents new evidence that students in Chicago elementary schools with stronger program coherence show higher gains in student achievement. The report suggests ways in which school leaders, school improvement partners, and policy makers can act to bring about the instructional coherence that will reward their school improvement efforts.

More than 101,000 students, teachers, and principals across the Chicago public school system participated in the Consortium's 2003 Improving Chicago's Schools survey. Students told us about their school experiences, attitudes, and activities. Teachers and principals told us about instruction in their classrooms and their professional development experiences, and answered our questions about the conditions under which they work. This information about where a school is and how it is developing can help the school assess its progress and plan for the future. Torvalds is the pseudonym for a representative CPS school.

This report, which will serve as a foundation for the Consortium's future studies of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE), presents key issues related to the exam. The report's author discusses basic facts about the PSAE, such as its origination, its component tests, the subject areas it covers, how it is scored, and how scores are reported. The author then describes how PSAE scores are used in accountability policies. The report contains analysis of student performance on various parts of the exam and relationships between component tests. Performance comparisons across various groups of students are also presented.

This report, which will serve as a foundation for the Consortium's future studies of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE), presents key issues related to the exam. The report's author discusses basic facts about the PSAE, such as its origination, its component tests, the subject areas it covers, how it is scored, and how scores are reported. The author then describes how PSAE scores are used in accountability policies. The report contains analysis of student performance on various parts of the exam and relationships between component tests. Performance comparisons across various groups of students are also presented.

This report follows up the Consortium's 2003 data brief, Chicago High School Redesign Initiative: A snapshot of the first year of implementation. Both reports examine the implementation experiences of small high schools, and will serve as springboards for a systematic, three-year qualitative study beginning in fall 2004.

In this interview-based report, the responses of students, teachers and principals from 11 CHSRI-supported small schools are compiled to examine questions within four broad topics: how Chicago Public Schools policies relate to small schools; characteristics of the small schools; integration of support, standards, thematic focus, student interest and community involvement; and student experience and instructional reform. Notes from the Ground also includes issues for discussion and action among stakeholders, as Chicago continues to open small schools under the proposed Renaissance 2010 plan.