This article reports on research designed to respond to a set of problems n
ormally associated with the assessment of school performance. It is more co
ncerned with specific resource effects in specific schools than with effect
iveness and efficiency in the use of individual school resources in the ass
essment of a system's performance over time. The emphasis is kan the overal
l performance of the entire set of elementary schools in the Chicago Public
School System rather than on the resource use in each school. Joining stan
dard regression techniques,vith the results of data envelopment analysis, t
he basic questions asked are the following: Are there discernible changes i
n the performance of Chicago elementary school following the fundamental sc
hool reforms of 1988-1989? Are these changes in the desired direction? The
results suggest encouraging improvement in schooling outcomes over the peri
od of study.