This book is intended to serve as a stimulus for discussion of what is needed to provide all American children with a world-class education opportunity and to make education a top priority in every state and the country as a whole. A range of contributors offer a diverse number of possible solutions to the current educational crisis in American public education, presenting views of current and former Pre-K through 12 practitioners such as teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members; current and former policymakers in local, state, and national arenas; directors and chairs of educational organizations and leaders in educational advocacy; current and former leaders of nationally and internationally known businesses; and representatives from institutions of higher education such as researchers, academics, deans, professors, department heads, and executive officers. Nineteen chapters are included in five areas. Voice from the Field includes: (1) Education and Freedom (Rebecca Palacios); (2) Sustaining School District Success: An Urban Superintendent's Reflections (Arlene Ackerman); and (3) The Missing Ingredient in School Reform: A Political Base (David Hornbeck). Preparing and Supporting 21st Century Teachers includes: (4) Teaching for the Future (Thomas G. Carroll); (5) Teaching Teams in Professional Development Schools: A 21st Century Paradigm for Organizing America's Schools and Preparing the Teachers in Them (Arthur E. Wise); (6) Building a System of Powerful Teaching and Learning (Linda Darling-Hammond); (7) Teacher Recruitment, Preparation, Induction, Retention, and Distribution (Barbara Kelley); (8) Creating P-16 Urban Systemic Partnerships to Address Core Structural Problems in the Educational Pipeline (Ken Howey and Nancy Zimpher); and (9) View from the Trenches: Two Practitioners Reflect on the Need for a National System of Educational Leadership Preparation (Carri Schneider and Ted Zigler). Political Context of 21st Century Education includes: (10) Ensuring Access to a World-Class Education (Diane Ravitch); (11) Changing the Dynamics of Educational Governance: Why Improving America's Schools Requires More than Changing Who's in Charge (Bob Sexton and Jacob Adams); (12) Making Politics Work to Dramatically Improve American Education (Jim Hunt); and (13) Charting a New Course in American Education (Richard Riley). Education and the Global Economy includes: (14) Education and the Economy (Ed Rust); and (15) The World Is Flat, and U.S. Education Has Flat-Lined: Designing an Information Infrastructure to Support a Globally Competitive Educational System (Kent Seidel). Creating 21st Century Learning Organizations includes: (16) A Nation of Locksmiths: Transforming Our Education System to Guarantee All of America's Children a Quality Education (Mary Hatwood Futrell); (17) Transforming Education: In Search of a 21st Century Solution (Peggy Siegel); (18) Looking Back, Thinking Ahead (James Kelly); and (19) The Meek Shall Inherit the Public Schools: Who Will Be Left Behind in the Learning Economy? (Chad Wick). Bob Wehling contributed the foreword and conclusion. Essential Components of a Successful Education System, a nine-point policy agenda for K-12 improvement, is appended. (References, figures, and endnotes are included by individual chapter.)