Despite immense efforts to understand schools, we know very little about
the contribution they make to student learning. Further, the limited
available evidence indicates that the way schools are designed,
organized, and managed have only a minimal effect on student outcomes.
The Self-Organizing School addresses this problem and the pressing need
for reform models that go further, last longer, and posses the capacity
to both respect, as well as deeply influence, what teachers and schools
do. The Self-Organizing School identifies nine next-generation reform
targets and articulates theory and practice for achieving these goals.
In doing so, a self-organized school sets a new benchmark for evaluating
site-based data and examples of a process that turns theory into
practice. This includes better ways to begin a reform process and
understand the roles of technology and feedback in the teaching
profession. The theory and practice described in the book are backed by
more than 1,600 direct classroom observations, an 8-year study of
student achievement, more than 12,000 student evaluations, and a 5-year
study of teacher perspectives.