The article considers that at the present stage of development of a new Ukrainian school author secondary educational establishments play a special part, as their creators and pedagogical teams seek and indicate the ways of innovative educational development, define new goals, develop the content of education, substantiate and implement alternative educational technologies. The author school is presented as an experimental educational institution, which activity is based on a pedagogical concept developed by a single teacher or author team. It is noted that the author school as a unique educational system has gone a long way in its historical development. The first author school was named «School without walls» by G. Skovoroda, whose main goal was to teach people the science of happy life. The peculiarities of the educational process in the most famous author schools in Ukraine of the twentieth century have been analyzed. (The first T. Shevchenko Ukrainian Gymnasium by V. Durdukivskyi in Kyiv; Pavlyska school by V. Sukhomlynsky; Sakhnivska author «toloka»-school by O. Zakharenko; author experimental school-complex № 3 by M. Huzyk in the town of Yuzhnyi, Odesa region). The experience of the author schools of the period of independent Ukraine was studied and summarized (Saksagan Science-Lyceum – author creative school by A. Sologub; V.O.Sukhomlinsky Ukrainian College – author school of spiritual growth by V. Khayrulina; «Trivita» – Ukrainian author school by M. Chumarna; «Hearth» – author school of «dialogue of cultures» developed by V. Bibler together with I. Berland and S. Kurganov; «Millennium» – specialized school № 318 – author experimental school by. L. Porokh in Kyiv, etc.).