Idea That Works — Putting Teachers in Charge of Schools

Imagine a group of teach­ers and com­mu­nity mem­bers run­ning your local school, decid­ing school cal­en­dars and set­ting staff work hours inde­pen­dent from their district’s cen­tral office.  This type of self-governing model is prov­ing effec­tive in improv­ing stu­dent per­for­mance.  Ultimately the teach­ers have more con­trol over their work and are more invested in pro­duc­ing high-performing stu­dents.  Through a gen­er­ous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, over 40 teacher– gov­erned schools have been estab­lished around the nation.  Read about how Minneapolis is imple­ment­ing this model from the Star Tribune, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.