A review of the literature on school reform and successful restructuring efforts, with a focus on the decentralization of the Chicago public school system, is the purpose of this paper. Under new legislation, the Chicago Board of Education will be disbanded to encourage citizen control of schools, and will be replaced by a system of individual schools with elected governing councils. Recommendations are made for implementing increased citizen and teacher input in the decision-making process. An extensive bibliography is included. (33 references) (LMI)