Organizational Learningin Schools and School Systems: Improving Learning, Teaching, and Leading

Abstract

Teachers and administrators in school systems across the United States and Canada have been inundated during the last several decades with silver bullets and quick fixes in an effort to improve education. The reforms have had limited success and little long-term effect on schools and school systems. This article proposes that organizational learning (ongoing learning in a deliberate manner with a view to improvements supporting the organization's goals) has the potential to help schools and school systems renew themselves from the inside out and to improve learning (for students and adults), teaching, and leading in school systems. The authors identify 6 interrelated conditions that appear to foster organizational learning and provide a practical illustration of the conditions in the form of a fictional school created from examples in the literature