The coming decade holds immense potential for dramatic improvement in U.S. education and in the achievement of American children and in this volume, members of the Hoover Institution's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education examine both the potential gains and the pitfalls that lie ahead, informed by where U.S. education has been, what changes have been made in recent years, and what's still required for the comprehensive overhaul that this vital enterprise so urgently needs. Looking backward is infinitely easier than predicting the future, but planning for the future is necessary if anything is to change and by analysing the recent past and present condition of American primary and secondary school education across a host of key topics, task force members in this volume chart a bold course for the years ahead. Optimistic about the opportunities at hand, they identify essential-and feasible-reforms as well as the barriers that must be overcome if those changes are to occur. They offer high-quality scholarship and thoughtful prescriptions for productive policy alternatives.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Executive summary
• Full statement of recommendations: the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education
• Contents of reforming education in Florida: a study prepared by the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, 2006
• About the contributing authors
• About the Hoover Institution, the initiative on American educational institutions and academic performance, and the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education.

• Wahlfreiheit und Wettbewerb fur Studenten und Universitaten / Michael Zöller
• Vorbild Amerika? / Erwin K. Scheuch
• Universitäten und Fachhochschulen
• Leitgedanken zu einer künftigen Aufgabenteilung / Hubert Braun
• Der Bologna-Prozess oder die Durchlässigkeit der europäischen Hochschulsysteme / Wedigo de Vivanco.

• American traditions of education / Diane Ravitch
• The system / John E. Chubb
• Achievement in American schools / Herbert J. Walberg
• Spending on schools / Eric A. Hanushek
• If families matter most, where do schools come in? / Caroline M. Hoxby
• Getting better teachers- and treating them right / Chester E. Finn Jr.
• Teachers unions and the public schools / Terry M. Moe
• Curriculum and competence / E.D. Hirsch Jr.
• Standards and accountability / Williamson M. Evers
• Choice in American education / Paul E. Peterson
• What is public about public education? / Paul T. Hill.

In this volume the eleven members of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education provide a broad overview of the American education system--pulling together basic facts about its structure and operation, identifying key problems that hinder its performance, and offering perspectives on the requirements of genuine reform.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)