Students in the United States spend much less time in school than do students in most other industrialized nations, and the school year has been essentially unchanged for more than a century. This is not to say that there is no interest in extending the school year. While there has been little solid evidence that doing so will improve learning…

The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 brought new urgency to the task of turning around low-performing schools. While many schools have been identified as needing improvement under NCLB, only a small percentage have failed to make progress for long enough--six years--to be subject to restructuring, the most serious consequence…

Contends that special education's process-based accountability system--one that relies on procedural rules, exhaustive documentation, and legal threats as the only means of holding schools and educators accountable--is ineffective. Proposes that schools shift from a process-based accountability system to one driven by results with a focus on…