Policy and Reports

Our policy work aims to improve the conditions under which school leaders operate, enabling Chicago to be the best city in which to lead a public school.

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For more than two decades, our team has invested significant resources
in advancing policy goals that matter to school leaders.

From eligibility to accountability to compensation, our model is simple:
We assemble a diverse group of principals, aspiring principals, and other stakeholders;
we facilitate a process for clarifying needs on all sides;
we leverage the available data; and we work toward collective action.

We start with school leaders.

In addition to principals and aspiring principals engaged in our programs, we gather insights from an annual Principal Engagement and AP Survey and publish the results through The Chicago Principal Partnership. We also engage educators through our Educator Advisory Committee (EAC). Since 2013, we have gathered committee members four to eight times annually to shape The Fund’s program and policy work. These educators are valuable members of our team and have a direct impact on our work.

We support principal managers.

Locally, we also engage Local School Council (LSC) Members. These elected officials play a critical role in principal performance and leadership stability at the local level. We develop resources and create space for LSC members to learn from one another through bilingual workshops and focus groups. 

And we convene national partners.

Nationally, we launched a Community of Practice (CoP) in 2019. With 19 member organizations, the CoP gathers quarterly to share data, reflect on promising practice, and elevate principal voice.

See more about CoP collaborations here.

Reports

Four or five times a year, our policy work and data use informs results in public reports.
Our reports dive deep on the impact of our programs, the potential for policy change, and
the stories of our school leaders. You can read them all below.

Report categories

Type

Since fall of 2020, with the support of the local philanthropic community, The Fund has dispersed grants of up to $10,000 to over 200 schools hardest hit by the pandemic through the COVID-19 Comeback Fund.

In this report, we explore nine case studies about how Chicago principals have used Comeback Fund grants to meet the immediate needs of their communities, while also innovating for the future.

The 2020-21 Chicago Principals Overview is our fifth annual report on the state of our city’s principals. We look at both charter and district-operated schools to measure the considerable impact of public school principals in Chicago.

In the 2020-21 school year, we are serving 214 principals and 76 assistant principals who impact over 150,000 Chicago public school students every day.

In Chicago, principals are charged with creating school budgets that meet the needs of their school community.

The 2019-20 Chicago Principals Overview is our fourth annual report on the state of our city’s principals. We look at both charter and district-operated schools to measure the considerable impact of public school principals in Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools has only 66% of the funding it needs to adequately serve the more than 355,000 students in its schools every day.

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