Large-scale school reform as viewed from the self-determination theory perspective

Successful school reform requires that administrators, teachers, and students internalize the value of improved teaching and learning and of the policies, structures, procedures, and behaviors implicit in the reform. This is most likely to happen when school personnel and students experience satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness while planning and implementing the reform. When the components of a reform are relatively flexible rather than rigid and when the processes through which the reform is introduced and implemented are autonomy supportive, people will experience greater need satisfaction and will be more likely to internalize and endorse the reform. This article focuses on one approach to comprehensive school reform, namely, First Things First, and examines it in terms of self-determination theory principles.