Think you know how the American school system works? Think again. Most citizens are not aware of the uniqueness and highly decentralized nature of the American school system and thus have a lot of false assumptions about what it takes to make significant change. This short "course" will be based on current organizational theory and actual results from successful school reform groups.

Donor's Bio:
Jack Gillette is the Director of the Teacher Preparation and Education Studies Program. He is also a Lecturer in Yale's Sociology Department, and has an appointment at the Child Study Center. He is also a Yale-China trustee and serves as Chair of the Association's Teaching Committee. Mr. Gillette was previously the Director of Professional Development and Consultation for the School Development Program at the Yale Child Study Center, a national school reform model headed by Dr. James P. Comer, a child psychiatrist. His responsibilities included setting up and maintaining national training sites, coordinating national training offerings in New Haven, supporting consultation to the districts across the nation and delivering direct consultation to the Bay Area, Chula Vista, Tucson, Colorado Springs, Topeka, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Prince George's County and Westbury, Long Island. He received his B.A. from Harvard, an M.A.T. from Wesleyan, and a Ph.D. in Administrative Science from Yale University in 1985. He has taught at the graduate and high school level. He was a teacher at Hillhouse High School in New Haven and directed the Title VII and Title X Federally Funded Programs. He also taught graduate students at the Yale School of Management. Mr. Gillette has worked as a consultant on a broad variety of issues from site-based management in public schools to race relations and factory restructuring. His writing and research focus on the nature of the task of teaching in context, group and organizational dynamics and school reform.