Chicago Consortium on School Research

UChicago CCSR was created in 1990 after the passage of the Chicago School Reform Act that decentralized governance of the city's public schools. Researchers at the University of Chicago joined with researchers from the school district and other organizations to form CCSR with the imperative to study this landmark restructuring and its long-term effects. Since then CCSR has undertaken research on many of Chicago's school reform efforts, some of which have been embraced by other cities as well. Thus CCSR studies have also informed broader national movements in public education.

A number of features distinguish CCSR from other, more typical research organizations: our comprehensive data archive, a focus on one place—Chicago, our engagement with a diverse group of stakeholders, a wide range of methods and multiple investigators, and our commitment to sharing research findings with diverse publics.

UChicago CCSR is a unit of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute.