We have had to answer the argument that test scores are not the only measure for school-based management.

I explained that I wasn't thinking of school-based management in particular.

Chicago will begin school-based management this fall in all its 600 schools.

Behind this change is the limited school self rule, known as school-based management, in which parents, teachers and administrators share decisions.

There is no sense yet that school-based management has brought a revolution in achievement.

"All I'm asking before you close your minds to it is consider school-based management."

He said school-based management gives principals and schools more power, not less, to carry out their budgets in ways they think best.

He also told the gathering that school-based management will be put in place only at schools where a majority of educators want the system.

Advocates of school-based management argue that parents will be more likely to get involved at the school level.

"The whole philosophy of school-based management is based on greater local control," he said.