Far more often than not, catastrophic failures are the result of a cascading series of human errors or lapses in judgment. This relates to the ‘social construction’ of reliability.
In a high reliability school, human error and judgment are minimized and systems that promote the success of each student are maximized.
The topic of a high reliability school has been the focus of our #822chat on Twitter and will continue to be the focus during the month of September.
Here are a few basics behind the concept.
Some say the term began with a High Reliability Schools program in 1995 that included eight elementary schools in Australia. In the United States, Marzano Research trademarked the term High Reliability Schools in the 2010s and published this great resource (Leading a High Reliability School).
In the 1995 HRS project, they found a few key features including:
1) A small number of clear goals, that are understood by staff and students and a strong sense of primary mission.
2) Consistent best practices defined.
3) Mutual monitoring of staff, without counterproductive loss of overall autonomy and confidence.
4) Schools are hierarchically structured, but with an emphasis on collegial decision-making and interdependence.
Join the #822chat on Twitter 8:22am CST Saturdays and 8:22pm CST Tuesdays.