A Chance to Solve Their Own Problems

An inside look at the promise and pitfalls of continuous improvement and design in education—showing why reform sometimes succeeds, sometimes fails, and what leaders can do about it.

While the headlines have been consumed by No Child Left Behind, Common Core, charter schools, and battles over DEI, a group of practitioners have been trying to develop a new set of approaches to taking on the perennial problems of schooling. Rather than betting on a new programme or policy, these reformers have bet instead on a different way of working which they hope will yield much better results. By teaching educators across the nation and the world how to examine data, build systems, and organise for improvement, they aim to make existing systems more problem-focused, disciplined, and imaginative. Thousands of schools and districts, including many of the largest school districts in the country, have adopted these methods.

In A Chance to Solve Their Own Problems, a team of Harvard researchers investigates how these methods work in action. Drawing on hundreds of interviews as well as in-depth case studies, they offer a definitive account of why these methods succeed in some contexts and falter in others, illuminating the crucial roles of relationships, equity commitments, organisational context, and politics. The book reveals that the most successful applications are less about rigid adherence to a process and more about a human-centred approach that prioritises trust, relationships, and a culture of learning.

By blending clear-eyed critique with a constructive vision, A Chance to Solve Their Own Problems invites scholars, leaders, and practitioners to rethink how improvement work is organised, supported, and sustained. It serves as both a cautionary tale and a guide for those committed to making lasting progress in the complex human systems we call schools.