Chi-town, home of deep dish pizza, The Band, and an education reform powerhouse? That's John Simmon's take. To his mind, "Chicago leads the nation in the investment it has made in research that shows what works in education reform." In fact, if Simmons had his way, "any city--or president-elect--looking for research-based ways to improve education should turn to Chicago for lessons in how to do it right." Why? The Consortium on Chicago School Research, which Simmons finds to be the bee's knees of education policy shops-"a body of research on urban school reform that is without equal." CCSR has surely published some great research (see here and here, for example), but with all due respect, let's cut the hyperbole. After all, this is a city whose students perform at roughly the same level as those in Slovenia. What's next? Simmons trying to convince us the Cubs are the best baseball team in history?
"Next president can find ideas to fix schools in Chicago," by John Simmons, The Chicago Sun-Times, October 25, 2008