Teaching Teams

A 21st-Century Paradigm for Organizing America's Schools

By Arthur E. Wise

Schools of the 21st century must break away from their 19th-century, “egg carton” organization. A new paradigm based on how professionals work in this new century is needed. The egg-carton organization, with its identical cells, expects that every teacher will replicate the appropriate curriculum and instruction for 25 students each year, every year, from the beginning to the end of a teaching career. The model, resilient as it is, has outlived its usefulness. Among its dysfunctional consequences are high teacher turnover, especially in hard-to-staff schools; a maldistribution of teaching talent; and the achievement gap.

It is time for a different approach. Many children in hard-to-staff schools are taught by enthusiastic but underprepared Teach For America graduates, career-changers who know their content but not how to teach, and novice teachers who have not been adequately prepared for the challenges they face. Meanwhile, in other classrooms, dedicated, seasoned, accomplished teachers work successfully but, given the egg-carton organization of the schools, are not easily able to share their expertise with novices. A growing number of university personnel are ready to bring their expertise to the schools, but they find that the old-fashioned organization makes it difficult. It is time for a new paradigm.

The education and policy communities must think boldly. Schools cannot continue to operate using the now dysfunctional 19th-century factory model. Schools must be redesigned around principles adapted from the organization of professional work in the 21st century. Professionals do not work alone; they work in teams. Professionals begin their preparation in the university, but do not arrive in the workplace ready to practice. They continue their...