January 8: Madigan announcement
Following years of staunch backing for the Chicago Teachers Union, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago) abruptly calls for an end to teacher tenure as well as requiring uniforms and daily homework at all public schools. Mayor Richard M. Daley, who sometimes is at odds with Madigan, says he sees no reason to end tenure.

January 14: Headquarters announcement
The Reform Board announces it will move its administrative offices from its vast complex on the Near Southwest Side—federal property it obtained for $1—to the Commonwealth Edison building downtown. The new building and its renovations could cost up to $26 million, money the board says will come from rental income and pared-down operating costs.

January 21: School finance plan
In his State of the State address, Gov. Jim Edgar officially embraces the idea of increasing income taxes to give property tax relief and to fund schools more equitably. His speech echoes his Democratic opponent in the last election. Mayor Daley supports the idea.

January 22: Charter approval
The Chicago Board of Education approves the first group of charter schools (10 total). Six open the following fall, including the Academy of Communications and Technology (ACT), a bilingual high school sponsored by ACORN, Built Environment, Chicago Prep, Perspectives, SABIS International (now Chicago International Charter Schools) and Triumphant. Two have since been shut down.

January 22: Catholic connection
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that schools chief Paul Vallas has monthly meetings and frequent phone chats with Catholic Schools Supt. Elaine Schuster. Ideas include "multiplex" facilities shared by Catholic and public schools. He backs using tax dollars for some aspects of parochial schooling, such as textbooks, but takes no stand on vouchers.

January 23: Parochial test scores
Elaine Schuster says she might agree to release test scores of individual schools if the Legislature OKs vouchers or other financial support for parochial schools. She says the Catholic schools save the state $852 million a year.

February 4: Clemente controversy
Controversy erupts again at Clemente High School as the Chicago Sun-Times reports that dozens of Puerto Rican artists brought from the island to the school with state Chapter 1 monies also appeared at political and fund-raising events sponsored by organizations supporting Puerto Rican independence and pardons for imprisoned FALN terrorists. The newspaper also quotes several people who contend the school is engaged in political indoctrination. In reaction, a state legislative leader names a committee to investigate.

February 5: Clemente continued
Paul Vallas installs Whittier Elementary School Principal Irene DaMota as interim principal at Clemente—she had been the council's third choice.

February 6: Clemente protest
The Latino Institute denounces the Chicago Sun-Times, accusing it of yellow journalism. Later, hundreds of members of the Puerto Rican community march in protest.

February 14: Alternative certification
Gov. Jim Edgar signs legislation allowing college graduates without teaching degrees to teach in Chicago public schools if they go through a training program that begins with 8 weeks of intensive instruction offered through Northwestern University and includes a year of team teaching and after-school sessions at Northwestern. Implementation is stalled as debate about the measure continues.

February 17: Clemente continued
Reacting again to the Clemente uproar, Paul Vallas says state Chapter 1 spending guidelines are so obscure that councils "could literally rationalize anything as being of educational value." He suggests that state lawmakers either tighten them or give the Reform Board that authority. Mayor Daley endorses the idea.

February 24: Operations manager
The Reform Board hires the first of 38 operations manager who will work at high schools on probation. This job category was created to give principals more time to work on the educational program; the managers are to supervise maintenance, lunchrooms, transportation, internal accounts, accounting and other support operations. Salaries range from $55,000 - $70,000. Some schools have also requested business managers who handle only financial affairs and have no line authority over staff. Their salary range: $35,000 - $50,000. By mid-April, all but seven high schools had managers.

February 26: Principal requirements
The Reform Board puts the first limits on local school council selection of principals. In addition to a state certificate, candidates now must meet certain experience and training requirements. Also, regional education officers can veto an LSC decision to retain a principal, but the LSC can appeal to the Reform Board.

February 26: Mandatory attendance adjustment
To prepare more children for 1^st grade, the Reform Board lowers the mandatory school attendance age from 7 to 5. This will add some 3,000 5- and 6-year-olds to half-day kindergarten classes; estimated cost, $2 million.

February 26: P.E. controversy
Facing an overflow crowd of protesters, the Reform Board votes unanimously to seek a state waiver that would allow it to require only two years of P.E. for graduation, rather than four. The move, aimed at making room for additional academic subjects, would trim 180 P.E. teaching positions from the budget.

February 27: Boys Town project
The board announces that the Boys Town student development program will be used by 10 city schools. Partial funding comes from Chicago Community Trust; the cost to the board is $100,000.

March 10: National honor
Chicago Vocational High is chosen by the U.S. Department of Education as one of five New Urban High Schools. The school was praised for its eight schools-within-a-school, its teacher training initiatives and partnerships with local businesses. Last year, the Reform Board placed the school on remediation because fewer than 15 percent of its 9th- and 11th-graders score at or above the national norm in reading.

March 26: Plan approval
The Reform Board officially endorses a revised draft of the high school redesign plan released in December.

April 30: Test score announcement
Mayor Daley and school officials announce that an overwhelming majority of high schools posted increased reading and math test scores. Citywide, math scores reached a new high for the 1990s, with 30 percent of 9^th- and 11^th-graders scoring at or above national norms on the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency. In reading, scores rose to the level they were in 1993, with 25 percent of 9^th- and 11^th-graders scoring at or above average. Officials cited new policies tying promotion to test scores, putting low-scoring schools on probation and encouraging creation of freshman academies and other restructuring efforts.

May 1: New expulsion rules
The Reform Board votes to require expulsion hearings for pupils accused of a Class X felony outside of school hours and off school grounds-- with or without a conviction. The rationale: A child who commits serious crimes on the weekend or after school is just as likely to commit such crimes during school hours. Class X includes criminal sexual assault, murder, drug offenses and arson.

May 23: Test score stories
"Scores soar" on standardized tests, trumpet the Sun-Times and Tribune. In grades 3 through 8, the percentage of students scoring at or above the national average in math increased by 4.8 percentage points, to 35.9. However, the percentage of students scoring at or above average in reading rose only 1.2 percentage points, to 30.3. Decreases were registered at two grade levels for reading, and at one for math. Test scores at elementary schools have been gradually but irregularly improving since 1990.

May 28: Academic standards
The Reform Board approves new "common sense" academic standards that spell out what children should know and be able to do in four subject areas--language arts, math, science and social science--by the end of 3^rd, 6^th, 8^th, 10^th and 12^th grades. Developed under the guidance of John Murphy, former schools superintendent in Charlotte, N.C., the standards are more specific than those written several years ago by a joint task force of the board and Chicago Teachers Union.

May 28: Scholars program
To deter high-performing 8^th-graders from leaving CPS for private and suburban high schools, the Reform Board votes to seek approval from the International Baccalaureate program to offer IB to 28 students in each of 12 high schools, including several that are on probation. One CPS high school already has IB. In each of 30 other high schools, 28 students will take Advanced Placement courses as part of a parallel program, CPS Scholars.

June 1: Finance reform vote
Illinois Republican Senate President James "Pate" Philip kills the school finance reform package proposed by Republican Gov. Jim Edgar because it would have raised taxes. Under Edgar's proposal, an increase in the state income tax would have paid for increased and more equitable school funding as well as a reduction in local property taxes, which currently provide 59 percent of school funding in Illinois. The measure had passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. Philip refused to call it for a vote in the Senate.

June 25: School reconstitution
The Reform Board approves the reconstitution of seven high schools that failed to show substantial academic improvement since being placed on probation last fall--none of the schools has more than 7 percent of its students scoring at or above national norms in reading. Three principals are removed; in July, 188 teachers (29 percent) are removed. Under a new board policy, teachers have 10 months to find new jobs inside the system but must work four days a week as substitutes until they do.

June 30: Mandatory summer school
A $50 million summer school program begins for some 150,000 Chicago public school students, the largest summer school enrollment in recent history. Around 80,000 students are taking part in academic programs, which includes 42,000 3^rd-, 6^th-, 8^th- and 9^th-graders who were required to attend mandatory summer school because of low test scores, failing grades or poor attendance. Another 70,000 are participating in summer job and recreational programs.

July 23: Principal firings
The Reform Board approves a recommendation by Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas to remove principals from 11 schools on probation. In her first public challenge to CEO Paul Vallas, Beverly Tunney, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, contends, "There was no educational malpractice at these schools. ... The only criteria I see being used is when someone in the school has a conflict with the principal."

July 23: Alternative school charter After contracting independently for almost two years with community- based alternative schools for dropouts, the School Reform Board creates a charter school "umbrella," the Youth Connection Charter School, to give alternative schools access to general state aid and reduce the financial burden on CPS. Under the agreement, the charter can enroll a maximum of 1,700 students. For the charter's first year of operation, the School Board will pay $4.8 million to 26 alternative schools serving 1,019 students.

July 28: Truancy study
The Consortium on Chicago School Research releases a study of truancy in Chicago's public high schools showing that class cutting is almost as big a problem as not showing up at all. In a single semester, 40 percent of chronic truants attend school regularly but cut more than a month of classes. Among 9^th-graders, about 64 percent (including high achievers) cut at least two weeks of classes in a major subject. Principal investigator Melissa Roderick says schools should move quickly to help kids cover material they missed.

August 13: Summer Bridge results
The board announces preliminary test score results for the Summer Bridge Program: 44 percent of 3rd-graders, 57 percent of 6th-graders, and 65 percent of 8th-graders earned passing scores and will be promoted to the next grade. However, more than 10,000 elementary school students will have to repeat a grade. Noting poor performance among 3rd-graders, CEO Paul Vallas says that beginning next year, low-scoring 1st-graders will have to attend summer school.

August 18: Lesson plans
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the school system is writing lesson plans in language arts, math, science and social studies. They are to be available by the fall of 1998 and will not be required. The system plans to recruit 100 teachers to help write them.

August 26: Probation list
Board officials announce that nine of the system's probation schools will be taken off the list; 15 more will be added, leaving 115 schools either on probation or in danger of reconstitution.

August 28: Charter school openings
Six charter schools open, with a combined enrollment of 1,885. The schools receive the same operating funds per student as other schools in the system, but are exempt from many bureaucratic regulations and union contracts. The board received 38 charter-school proposals and approved 10; four could not open because of problems locating adequate buildings.

September 3: Service learning requirment
CEO Paul Vallas announces that, beginning with the class of 1999, all high school students must complete 60 hours of community service, which may include tutoring classmates or volunteering at nearby institutions. Subsequently, other school officials say that the matter is still being considered by a task force.

September 3: Reading initiatives
Both the state and city announce new reading initiatives in response to tumbling scores on state reading tests. State Supt. Joseph Spagnolo announces a $1 million partnership program to link districts with successful reading programs to those whose students are struggling. He also proposes pushing for extra money to provide additional classroom reading periods, improving teacher certification qualifications and forming community-based literacy initiatives. Meanwhile, Paul Vallas announces that he plans to extend the Summer Bridge Program to 2nd-graders, at a cost of $12 million, and that 5,000 teachers this year will receive grants to build or expand classroom libraries.

September 18: State watch list
The Illinois State Board of Education unveils a new strategy for dealing with 125 poor- performing schools, including 93 in Chicago: the "academic early warning list." Poor IGAP scores qualify schools for the list; if schools do not make progress, they are placed on the state's "academic watch list," and could eventually be shut down. State support teams will be assigned to all non-Chicago schools on the early warning list, and to the four Chicago schools not flagged for extra help under Chicago's crackdown: Anderson, Goodlow, Madison and Henderson elementary schools.

September 24: Program investigation
The Reform Board unleashes a plan to pay the Cook County state's attorney's office nearly $700,000 over the next two years to investigate and prosecute corruption in the board's massive capital improvement program.