The growing attraction between citizens and educators can form the basis of a fruitful school-community relationship. This new way of connecting, in which large numbers of people meet regularly to talk about school issues and find solutions, goes far beyond blue-ribbon commissions and school-business partnerships. To make the marriage last,…

In answering the question posed in the title, the author begins with a story that businessman Jamie Vollmer told to educators a few years ago. In examining business involvement in U.S. school reform, the author looks at the 1890s through 1920s and the 1970s to the present--two points in history when business leaders and educational entrepreneurs,…