The Chicago School Reform Act provided a rare opportunity for those who were involved in the development of the legislation to be primarily responsible for the initial implementation of the plan. The governance model of the Reform Act, which is the subject of this study, provided for an elected school counsel at each of 542 schools and maintained a modified central office and a central school board. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the evolution of the educational system in the United States, and Chapter 2 presents research findings about the origins of the Chicago School Reform Act, stakeholders' perceptions, and the political context. Chapter 3 considers the swiftness with which the legislation was implemented and some of the conflicts of implementation. The local school counsels and how they will work is the subject of Chapter 4. Chapter 5 calls for the various stakeholders to put the Chicago reforms into a historical, political, and sociological perspective and to realize that the reform effort will not be sufficient to bring about all the change Chicago needs. Appendixes describe the methodology, and the various types of stakeholders. (Contains 134 references.) (SLD)