Synopses & Reviews
This book offers an alternative approach to secondary school organization. In line with the definition formulated by John Dewey's philosophy of education, the new approach aims to promote productive learning. The book shows the way to extricate schools from their past in order to respond more successfully to the requirements of the information age in which we are living today. The chapters treat the primary components of teachers' work in schools in light of systems' theory as opposed to the organization of instruction prevalent in today's schools that is designed in light of bureaucratic theory. The book demonstrates how the current principles of organization impede the change and improvement of instruction and by necessity create boredom and the routinization of teachers' and students' activity in schools.
Synopsis
A major problem confronting schools is that many students are turned off from learning and are bored. Boredom is destructive of learning. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative of the US government (2001) stemmed from the claim - accompanied by sharp debates pro and con - that many schools in the United States fail to achieve basic educational objectives, and that many schools are doing a poor job for a wide variety of reasons and surely not just because of student boredom (Brigham, Gustashaw, Wiley, & Brigham, 2004; Essex, 2006; Goodman, Shannon, Goodman, & Rapoport, 2004; Sunderman, Tracey Jr., Kim, & Orfield, 2004). The model of school organization and instruction presented here seeks to provide an effective plan for significant improvement in secondary school education, one of whose central aims is to make students genuinely engaged in what they are learning. The NCLB legislation emphasizes, inter alia, the need for school improvement. Without it one cannot reasonably anticipate improvement over current levels in student engagement in learning and in academic achievement. The NCLB literature frequently employs the term "school improvement" to refer to the quality of the teachers, such as their academic credentials, instructional competence, and their knowledge of subject matter. Similarly, "school restructuring" is said to include steps such as transforming the school into a charter school, replacing the teaching staff, or inviting a private company to administer the school. The use of those terms in this work is distinctly different.
Table of Contents
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
Introduction
Students are bored in school
Why the boredom?
The road to productive learning in school
Chapter 1
Two Models of School Structure
Structural change: necessary but not sufficient
Organizational regularities in school
1. The one-by-one formula
The "one-by-one" formula and the hierarchical nature of bureaucracy
A hard-nosed view of the one-by-one concept
2. The greater than one formula
A policy of instructional coherence
The discipline oriented organization of schools
Human organization is contrived
What structure cannot do for teachers
School organization and teaching practices: a summary of our goals
Chapter 2
The School as a Community; the School in the Community
Part 1: The school as a community
School organization and community
Communities and other enterprises
The goals of the school as a community
Community and academic disciplines
Qualities of leadership
Part 2: The school in the community
The community as a site for learning
Chapter 3
Student Engagement in Learning
A cognitive-affective concept
Engagement and the learning environment
Engagement and students' conceptions of learning
Meaning and student autonomy
Chapter 4
Class Size and School Size
What is a large class?
Teaching methods omitted from studies of class size
Does class size inhibit innovation?
School size
Chapter 5
The Integrated Curriculum
The fusion of academic disciplines
The problem of relevance
The problem of integration
Chapter 6
Duration of Class Sessions and the Problem of Teaching Method
The anticipated demise of the 50-minute hour
Alternative teaching methods and the 50-minute hour
More alternative schedules
Extensive and intensive study projects
How schedule reform affects teaching: some research
Teachers' evaluations
Results regarding students
Some conclusions
Chapter 7
Student Assessment
Assessment as testing
Alternative assessment
Summative and formative assessment
More alternative approaches to assessment
Chapter 8
A Systems Approach to Organization and Instruction in Schools
Systems integrate, bureaucracies separate
A system is not a collection
Classrooms as social systems
Can schools adopt new principles of organization?
References