Renewal : remaking America's schools for the twenty-first century / Harold Kwalwasser.

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Basics of School Reform : Management theory 101 ; Human relations 101 ; Politics 101. -- Leaders : Superintendents ; Principals. -- Teachers : A brave new world ; Keeping, and working with, those you have ; Training new (and more) teachers inside the system ; The rest of your life, good teachers can always get better: the professional learning community ; Training new (and more) teachers: working the pipeline into the classroom ; Creating more alternative training and certification programs ; What is a good teacher? : evaluation in a professional world ; Tenure ; Motivating teachers: is pay the be-all and end-all? ; The Colman Report effect on motivation: do teachers have low expectations of poor kids? ; The special challenge of hard-to-staff schools. -- Customers : Do not lose sight of the student ; Seeing every child for who they are, not who we assume them to be: replacing one curriculum taught one way ; Ending a system designed to lose track of kids: paying attention to real students, not to the assumptions we make about them ; Assessing students: never letting them fall too far behind ; Parents: one half of a confused partnership ; Parents: long-ignored customers and owners. -- The Template: the Things High-Performing Schools Have in Common : Six beliefs ; Eight practices ; A case study in what it takes to fail ; The things not done. -- Beyond the School District: the Role of the States and Federal Government ; The role of the states ; The role of the federal government. -- The Future of the American Public School System : The education system we need, the system of schools we want -- The blueprint for action: an outline of what we need to do ; A proposed school "disclosure document".

With this book the author has put together a call to action for education reform that makes a clear case for what has to be done in order to educate all children to their full potential. He visited forty high-performing and transforming school districts, charters, parochial, and private schools to understand why they have succeeded where others have failed. This analysis brings together all of the necessary changes in one dynamic strategy. Many schools, even though facing seemingly impossible odds, have succeeded brilliantly. But their histories also reflect that there are neither silver bullets or demons. The heart of successful reform is systemic change, which requires the patience, understanding, and commitment of every adult who has a role in the process, from parents and taxpayers, to the school board members, superintendents, and teachers, and on to state legislators and members of Congress. This book offers a clear picture of how to move away from the mass-production style of education that most schools offered throughout the twentieth century to a new, more innovative, and flexible model that can meet this country's promise of truly educating every child and preparing each of them for the challenges ahead.