This article outlines the concept of the cooperation of the Department of Education at Goethe-University in Frankfurt and Helene-Lange-School in Wiesbaden. The article shows how school improvement, based on empirical research, can work, referring to the evaluation and further development of an extra-curricular school project (“Young & Old”). The article concludes with a theoretical description of school improvement, based on system theory, and explains how both school and university benefit from this cooperation.

Keywords
laboratory schools, university, cooperation, school improvement, evaluation, system theory