"American public education is in crisis. Test scores are dropping. Functional illiteracy in English and mathematics is growing. With a work force lacking high-tech skills, American business and industry are losing the battle for the global marketplace, while on the domestic front, the nation is being split in two between the educated "haves" and the uneducated "have-nots."" "What is news - exciting, inspiring news - is that something can be done about it. And is being done about it." "Next Century Schools, a program launched by the RJR Nabisco Foundation to fund bold ideas for fundamental change, is an impressive example of education entrepreneurship. Since 1990, the Foundation has committed $30 million to forty-three schools across the country. The result has been dramatic innovations and striking departures from "business as usual" that have transformed these schools. This landmark book describes what has been accomplished and charts a reform strategy for the future for our nation's public schools as a whole." "Entrepreneurship in schools means bypassing elephantine bureaucracies to focus on the place where the educational product is actually delivered: the school. In Boston a school offers evening classes to students who have to work days: one in Georgia intimately involves parents in their children's classwork: in the Bronx a dedicated principal has to keep his innovations a secret from the central board of education. We see how schools can make themselves part of the computer revolution, how they can free themselves of the tyranny of the traditional school year, how educators can be held responsible for their failures and be properly rewarded for their successes. Above all, we see proof positive of how hope can be born where none now seems to exist, how learning can take place where there is now an educational wasteland, how the children who are our nation's future can gain the tools that make that future strong and bright." "Reinventing Education pulls no punches; it tells how much remains to be done, while it offers a compelling argument for entrepreneurship in education." "A detailed and convincing blueprint for change, Reinventing Education makes it clear how vital change is. It is a book that must be read and acted upon by anyone concerned with our nation's future as we move into the 21st century."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved