Three Streams and Four Policy Entrepreneurs Converge

Abstract

Throughout the history of the Chicago Public School System (CPS), reports and surveys have been published, and legislation has been passed in an attempt to improve the system by changing the governance structure, including the role and the powers of the superintendent, the school board, the city council, and the mayor. In 1988, the Chicago School Reform Act was passed, dramatically changing the governance structure of CPS. Policy makers, school reform advocates, parents, community activists, and so forth believed that the implementation of this act would be the panacea for reforming CPS. Why did the Illinois General Assembly legislate another major change in the governance structure of CPS in 1995? This article addresses this question through Kingdon’s work on the first two phases of the policy cycle, agenda setting, and policy formulation.

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