John Goodlad is best known for his "A Place Called School", in which the largest on-scene investigation of classrooms in the United States took place (in Los Angeles, California). Improvements for these schools are suggested in the book, in which Goodlad states a complete redesign must take the following into account: The school's curriculum, teaching quality, relations with the community, student on-task time, and instructional methods, all must be re-examined for improvement to occur. Many of these ideas stem directly from the beliefs of John Dewey.

Goodlad espouses a global community linked by Internet and computer to link various schools and universities together into a greater whole. If collaboration is to have the slightest chance of succeeding, Goodlad argues, developing and maintaining a method for ongoing communication between the school district and the university should be given the highest priority. Goodlad proposes that there are two fundamental conditions necessary for collaboration to be effective: (1) Frequent opportunities to share experiences with other persons in similar roles, and (2) opportunities to reflect upon how theory and research can inform practice. He is concerned with the dissimulation of knowledge. In general, Goodlad believes the cure of American education is through better teachers rather than through increased accountability. In the Los Angeles Schools studied by Goodlad, he has been instrumental in gaining additional technical facilities for these institutions.

He has proposed the center for Virtual Organization and Commerce (LSU plus Dublin, Ireland linked to Melbourne, Australia), a global organization, with virtual walls, dedicated to a dissemination of knowledge throughout the world. Publications include "Teachers for our nation's Schools", "The Occupation of Teaching in Schools", as well as "The No Graded Elementary School". Goodlad has authored, co-authored, or edited over 30 books; has written chapters and papers in more than 100 other books and yearbooks; and has more than 200 articles in professional journals and encyclopedias. Some of his books have been translated into such languages as Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, and Hebrew. His 1984 publication, A Place Called School, received the Outstanding Book of the Year Award from the American Educational Research Association and the Distinguished Book of the Year Award from Kappa Delta Pi.

Goodlad proposed elementary school education from age 4 to 16, and the incorporation of more extensive internship for teacher preparation (he uses the term, "teaching hospitals", in regard to the more extensive internship that is associated with the training of physicians). His work at the University of Washington Educational Renewal has again centered on the depth of teacher preparation. Note the comparison of Goodlad with Doug Englebart and his collective IQ.

Books

A Place Called School

Teachers for our Nation's Schools

The Occupation of Teaching in Schools

The No Graded Elementary School