The government of Chile mandated a system-wide reform in public school education in 2017. The reform calls for de-municipalization of the public school sector (345 municipal education departments under may oral control) and the creation of 70 Servicios Locales de Educación Pública (SLEPs) between 2018 and 2025. The reform represents a largescale attempt to improve and save public education in Chile. This analysis is based on case studies of implementation of the first four SLEPs in the first year of the reform. Using Stake’s method for multiple case study analysis, the analysis explores how context influences the professional capacity of the SLEPs to provide professional assistance to schools. The study relates to research on the effectiveness of intermediate level agencies in school systems and on contextual influences on organizational innovation and capacity building. The analysis reveals that contextual factors shaping initial professional capacity of the SLEPs reinforced traditional practices of local education agency support to schools in three of the four cases. The differentiating factor centered on the actions of local agency leaders who responded to capacity gaps and lack of direction from government authorities as either constraints on change or as an opportunity for innovation.

智利政府要求在2017年对公立学校教育进行全系统改革。该改革要求对公立学校部门实行非市政化（可能由345个市教育部门进行口头控制），并创建70个Servicios Locales deEducaciónPública（ SLEPs）（介于2018年至2025年之间）。这项改革代表了智利为改善和保存公共教育所做的大规模尝试。该分析基于改革第一年实施前四个SLEP的案例研究。使用Stake的方法进行多个案例研究分析，该分析探讨了环境如何影响SLEP向学校提供专业帮助的专业能力。该研究涉及中级机构在学校系统中的有效性以及对组织创新和能力建设的背景影响研究。分析表明，在四个案例中的三个案例中，构成SLEP初始专业能力的背景因素加强了当地教育机构对学校的支持的传统做法。差异化因素集中在地方机构领导人的行为上，他们应对能力差距和政府当局缺乏指导，将其作为变革的约束或创新的机会。