An invigorating examination of the potential for meaningful change in education, from one of the nation's most astute observers of schooling and school improvement.In The Great School Rethink, education policy sentinel Frederick M. Hess offers a pithy and perceptive appraisal of American schooling and finds, in the uncertain period following pandemic disruption, an ideal moment to reimagine US education. Now is the time, he asserts, to ask hard questions a...

At a time of bitter national polarization, there is a critical need for leaders who can help us better communicate with one another. In A Search for Common Ground, Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera, who have often fallen on opposing sides of the ideological aisle over the past couple of decades, candidly talk through their differences on some of the toughest issues in K–12 education today—from school choice to testing to diversity to privatization. They offer a sharp, honest debate that...

In Getting Education Right, Rick Hess and Mike McShane argue that America has too long suffered from the absence of a robust, coherent, and principled conservative vision for educational improvement. The book both diagnoses a problem and offers a solution. The problem? The right has too narrowly focused on school choice, campus speech, and shrinking Washington’s footprint, while the left has sought to subsidize and supersize the status quo. The solution? An education system imbued...

"By deconstructing learning science and making the connection to technology, Hess and Saxberg have outlined key strategies for school leaders as they work to transform traditional practices in schools. Whether it is whole-school reform or targeted interventions, principals will be motivated to rethink or‘re-engineer’ the use of technology to optimize teaching and learning."—Gail Connelly, Executive DirectorNational Association of Elementary School Principals

Ten brilliant approaches that are disrupting US education and actionable advice for their broader implementation

The growth of for-profit providers in the K–16 education sector has generated more than its share of controversy. From the emergence of charter schools to post-secondary options like the University of Phoenix, for-profit providers have been lauded for their capacity to serve historically underserved populations but derided for their pursuit of profit—which, critics argue, is at the expense of the public good. This important volume takes stock of the debate, neither demon...

An indispensable book for administrators, policymakers, scholars, and practitioners, Urban School Reform presents a revealing portrait of reform efforts while identifying the full range of issues that education reformers will need to address in districts across the country in the years ahead.Today's urban school reformers face a bewildering array of challenges. Urgent problems pertaining to governance, management, labor relations, classroom instruction, an...

How can the Common Core complement and not conflict with school improvement efforts already at work across the United States? How can it be seamlessly integrated into accountability systems, teacher preparation and development, charter schools, and educational technology? This timely volume brings together prominent scholars and policy analysts to examine the pressing issues that will mark Common Core implementation. Whether or not you agree with the standards, the Common Core is coming, a...

What if it's the system that's the problem? What if the key to breakthrough school improvement is not mandating new solutions built on an elusive combination of the right standards, pedagogy, and assessments but removing entrenched bureaucratic barriers and rethinking restrictive norms and routines? What if we were free to start from scratch? This is the greenfield reform strategy: Create an environment that invites new solutions to surface and provide the infrastructure necessary for them...

Almost everyone agrees that America's urban schools are a mess. But while this agreement has fostered widespread support for aggressive reform, Frederick Hess argues that much of what ails urban education is actually the result of continuous or fragmentary reform. Hess explains that political incentives drive school superintendents to promote reforms--to demonstrate that they are ""making a difference."" Superintendents have to do this quickly, both because their tenure is usually three ye...

Forget everything you think you know about school reform. Cutting through the cant, sentiment, and obfuscation characterizing the current school reform debate, Frederick M. Hess lacerates the conventional "status quo" reform efforts and exposes the naivete underlying reform strategies that rest on solutions like class size reduction, small schools, and enhanced professional development. He explains that real improvement requires a bracing regime of common sense reforms that create a cultur...

The Cage-Busting Teacher adopts the logic of Cage-Busting Leadership and applies it to the unique challenges and opportunities of classroom teachers. Detailed, accessible, and thoroughly engaging, it uncovers the many ways in which teachers can break out of familiar constraints in order to influence school and classroom practice, education policy, and school reform. “Cage-busting is concrete, precise, andpractical,” writes Frede...