Organized around the four key areas outlined in the U. S. Department of Education's Race to the Top program, this volume presents a collection of seminal articles on standards and assessment; using data to improve learning; recruiting and retaining great teachers and leaders; and turning around failing schools. Following a foreword by Robert B. Schwartz and introduction by Caroline T. Chauncey, this book is divided into five parts. Part I, Standards and Assessment, includes the following: (1) Unlearned Lessons: Six stumbling blocks to our schools' success (W. James Popham); (2) (In)formative Assessments: New tests and activities can help teachers guide student learning (Robert Rothman); and (3) An Inexact Science: What are the technical challenges involved in using value-added measures? (Robert Rothman). Part II, Using Data to Improve Instruction, includes the following: (4) The "Data Wise" Improvement Process: Eight steps for using test data to improve teaching and learning (Kathryn Parker Boudett, Elizabeth A. City, and Richard J. Murnane); (5) Leadership Lessons from Schools Becoming: "Data Wise" (Jennifer L. Steele and Kathryn Parker Boudett); and (6) Improving Teaching and Learning through Instructional Rounds (Lee Teitel). Part III, Developing Great Teachers and Leaders, includes the following: (7) Landing the "Highly Qualified Teacher": How administrators can hire--and keep--the best (Robert Rothman); (8) Principles of High-Quality Mentoring: An instructionally intensive approach to supporting new teacher development (Ellen Moir, Dara Barlin, Janet Gless, and Jan Miles); (9) Standards-Based Evaluation for Teachers: How one public school system links teacher performance, student outcomes, and professional growth (Andreae Downs); and (10) A Guide on the Side: Mentors help new leaders prepare for life in the principal's office (Robert Rothman). Part IV, Turning around Struggling Schools, includes the following: (11) Finding High-Achieving Schools in Unexpected Places: Karin Chenoweth discusses what 15 successful schools have in common (Nancy Walser); (12) Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools: Karin Chenoweth visits eight award-winning schools and explains what we can learn from their success (Chris Rand); (13) The Road to School Improvement: It's hard, it's bumpy, and it takes as long as it takes (Richard F. Elmore and Elizabeth A. City); (14) Is Coaching the Best Use of Resources? For some schools, other investments should come first (Elizabeth A. City); (15) Four Central Dilemmas of Struggling Schools: The starting points for a developmental approach to intervention (D. Brent Stephens); and (16) Charters and Unions: What's the future for this unorthodox relationship? (Alexander Russo). Finally, Part V, District-Based Improvement, includes the following: (17) The Real Race to the Top 169: To win, your district needs a strategy--not just a strategic plan (Rachel E. Curtis and Elizabeth A. City); and (18) Creating Coherence in District Administration: A framework based on the work of the Public Education Leadership Project (Stacey Childress, Richard F. Elmore, Allen S. Grossman, and Susan Moore Johnson).