"Foundations of American Education" asks many of the questions new teachers face: How should I handle classroom management? How will I know if students are learning what they should? What should I do in class my first year? How can I make things better for students? This book addresses major topics covered by introductory-level education classes, such as the history of US public schools, curriculum and assessment, classroom management, school governance, law, and more. Each chapter includes stories and examples from real teachers and schools and closes with a major US court case about public education. A major goal for the volume is to develop a sense for what US public school teachers do now and how we might be able to do better in the years ahead.