For decades, Chicago's public schools have struggled to provide every student with a quality education. Disproportionately enrolling low-income, Black and Latino students, the system has prepared few graduates with the skills necessary for success in high school, college and the increasingly skills-based workforce. While social factors, such as race, class and gender, remain powerful predictors of student success, a growing body of evidence indicates that schools differ dramatically in how well they work for low-income students of color. While some progress has been made, much more remains to be done to reach the goal of a high-quality, equitable system of public education in Chicago.

Through its investment in the Chicago Schools Alliance, a unique association of in-district and charter schools, and holistic assessments of school quality, BPI helps strengthen and sustain innovative public schools. BPI builds collaboration and mutual support among the schools' leaders and teachers. Through its sponsorship of the Chicago Schools Policy Luncheon Series, BPI brings lessons learned "on the ground" to local policymakers to help make public education a route to a successful, equitable future for all Chicago children. BPI focuses primarily on non-selective and innovative small, charter and contract schools.

BPI believes:

• An individual school is the meaningful unit of change when seeking justice, equity and school excellence for students.
• Even the most successful schools can be strengthened by forming inter-school connections that lead to powerful professional communities that help sustain their members to meet challenges.
• Schools that are sustainable over the long term make investments in deep learning, distributed leadership, community relationships and leadership succession plans.
• Educational policy and district-level change should be driven by the real-world, on-the-ground work happening every day in innovative, successful schools.
• Meaningful school-level autonomy is critical to support successful educators and schools.  Important decisions about how to use school time and budget and how to best deploy teachers and other staff are most productively made at the school level. 
• A school's success should be defined in broad and creative ways instead of strictly by students' standardized test scores.
• Charter schools often test the effects of innovative pedagogy and school structure on student success; established in-district schools also have much to offer newer charter schools.  Meaningful sharing and cooperation between charters and in-district schools will help increase the achievement of all Chicago public school students.