America's fragmented, decentralized, politicized, and bureaucratic system of education governance is a major impediment to school reform. In this important new book, a number of leading education scholars, analysts, and practitioners show that understanding the impact of specific policy changes in areas such as standards, testing, teachers, or school choice requires careful analysis of the broader governing arrangements that influence their content, implementation, and impact. "Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century" comprehensively assesses the strengths and weaknesses of what remains of the old in education governance, scrutinizes how traditional governance forms are changing, and suggests how governing arrangements might be further altered to produce better educational outcomes for children. Paul Manna, Patrick McGuinn, and their colleagues provide the analysis and alternatives that will inform attempts to adapt nineteenth and twentieth century governance structures to the new demands and opportunities of today. This book contains the following chapters: (1) Education Governance in America: Who Leads When Everyone Is in Charge? (Patrick McGuinn and Paul Manna); (2) The Failures of U.S. Education Governance Today (Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli); (3) How Current Education Governance Distorts Financial Decisionmaking (Marguerite Roza); (4) Governance Challenges to Innovators within the System (Michelle R. Davis); (5) Governance Challenges to Innovators outside the System (Steven F. Wilson); (6) Rethinking District Governance (Frederick M. Hess and Olivia M. Meeks); (7) Interstate Governance of Standards and Testing (Kathryn A. McDermott); (8) Education Governance in Performance-Based Federalism (Kenneth K. Wong); (9) The Rise of Education Executives in the White House, State House, and Mayor's Office (Jeffrey R. Henig); (10) English Perspectives on Education Governance and Delivery (Michael Barber); (11) Education Governance in Canada and the United States (Sandra Vergari); (12) Education Governance in Comparative Perspective (Michael Mintrom and Richard Walley); (13) Governance Lessons from the Health Care and Environment Sectors (Barry G. Rabe); (14) Toward a Coherent and Fair Funding System (Cynthia G. Brown); (15) Picturing a Different Governance Structure for Public Education (Paul T. Hill); (16) From Theory to Results in Governance Reform (Kenneth J. Meier); and (17) The Tall Task of Education Governance Reform (Paul Manna and Patrick McGuinn).