The four papers in this document are centered around several themes in education reform: (1) the need to reimagine and recreate strategies; (2) the need to approach familiar obstacles innovatively; (3) the need to utilize all available resources; and (4) and the need to engage in this work cooperatively and with courage and vision. In the first paper, "National and Local Strategies for Building Teacher Expertise: A Necessary Relationship"(Sharon Robinson), education is seen as the way to acquire knowledge for with knowledge comes power. The second paper, "Race Matters" (Cornel West) offers hope and justice, loyalty, commitment, and trust to the most vulnerable members of the community, who often are blamed for the downward mobility that leads to rage. The third paper, "Organizing Communities for Student Achievement" (Ernesto J. Cortes, Jr.), suggests that the future lies in individual capacity and collaboration, and in the power that teaching ordinary people about public life and public skills brings. The fourth paper, "A Call to Action: Thinking-and-Acting K-16" (Kati P. Haycock), also looks at the educational needs of poor and minority children and urges development of new systems from elementary through higher education. A brief section describing the American Association for Higher Education and its Education Trust is appended. (CH)