Recently, the traditional school structure has been harshly scrutinized for several key defects, including bureaucratic rules and regulations, professional isolation of teaching staff, evaluation systems irrelevant to instructional improvement, low teacher participation in decision making, and noncooperation between teachers and administrators.…

A growing number of educators are focusing their efforts on improving the work environment of teaching. In place of the typical school's norms and practices that isolate teachers from one another, collaborative schools have norms that encourage teachers and principals to cooperate for school improvement. Such schools are characterized by frequent…

This review summarizes the rapidly growing body of findings on the social and organizational environment of teaching and examines one innovation--the collaborative school--that offers promise of an organizational context more conducive to effective teaching. Chapter 1 characterizes the actual conditions under which teachers work, focusing on…