For decades, practically every major initiative in American education (from top-down standards to the testing movement) has moved decision-making farther away from the school. Throughout their careers, Deborah Meier, John Goodlad, James Comer, Ted Sizer, and Hank Levin have been at the forefront of the fight against this trend, working to give our schools back the ability to educate students in the broadest and richest traditions of activity, inquiry, and problem solving. Now these visionary educators have joined together to share their personal stories of the challenges and triumphs they faced in the classroom, and their ideas of what education can and should be for every student.Serving as an inspirational guide to action for those looking to be more involved in the urgent and continuing efforts to restore America's public schools, this book brings together the experiences and insights of the most influential and progressive educational leaders of the past half-century...and they are still working today! The book ranges from highly personal to imminently practical to passionately political, with each writer offering a unique perspective on what it takes to sustain major school change. It recounts the many instances when the authors thought beyond the conventional boundaries of educational practice to find innovative solutions in a number of critical areas, including developing more effective curriculum and assessment, expanding the benefits of gifted education to every child, strengthening school/community partnerships, and addressing the specific needs of small schools and learning communities.

Using the subjects of language arts and English in the secondary school setting, this practical volume features
-- An alternative to the "professional development school"
-- Descriptions of actual guidelines, activities, assignments, and professional problem-solving methods
-- Honest discussions of the relationships between mentors and student/beginning teachers and between public school teachers and university faculty
-- Discussion of the subcultures and realities of public high schools across rural, suburban, and urban districts
-- Attention to the special concerns of beginning teachers
-- and much, much more