Education Without Principals

That's no typo in the headline. Reader Handsome Dan hips us to a Milwaukee-based experiment in schools that operate without principals.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Community High lacks a traditional hierarchy. The school is one of a rapidly growing number of so-called "teacher-led" schools that operate without administrators—including principals and assistant principals. The teachers make decisions about the curriculum, the budget and student discipline. They perform peer evaluations of each other. Often, they come to decisions through discussion and debate, taking a vote if a consensus is not reached. The buck stops with them, not in the principal's office.

In Milwaukee, which is a national leader in the movement toward teacher-led schools, there will be at least 14 such programs next year, and that figure does not count private schools.

Whole thing here.

I've got no idea if this system works–the oldest teacher-led school in Milwaukee opened over a decade ago but the MJS story doesn't give results of any studies on the concept–but it sure sounds interesting.

Now if they can only get rid of teachers. And students.