Can We Trust Teachers To Successfully Manage Whole Schools? (Kim Farris-Berg) Part 1

Kim Farris-Berg

Everyone knows that many K-12 public schools are not producing desired results. The big question is: how will we improve them? The dominant assertion today is that if we can just get better at telling teachers what to do, and how to do it, then improvement will follow. In this climate, "getting tough" with teachers appears to be the only solution. Fortunately for those of us not fond of one-bet strategies, other assertions are entering the discussion. One of these assertions is that trusting teachers, and not controlling them, is the key to school success.

Some policymakers and education leaders in states and school districts are granting groups of teachers who request it collective autonomy to make the decisions influencing whole school success. These groups of teachers have the opportunity to choose--even invent--the learning methods and job structures they think will best improve learning for the students in their schools.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 6, 2013 2:30 AM
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