The authors in this book address the issues that relate to the crisis in American education and review some of the proposed solutions. To transform education, schools must be examined as social systems that are interrelated with families, communities, and the world of work. Following the introduction, section 1, "Conditions for Educational Opportunities," is comprised of the following four chapters: (1) "Schooling, Achievement, and Mobility" (Aaron M. Pallas); (2) "Tracking and Detracking Practices: Relevance for Learning" (Maureen T. Hallinan); (3) "Parental Ties to the School and Community and Mathematics Achievement" (Chandra Muller); (4) "Reading Reality More Carefully Than Books: A Structural Approach to Race and Class Differences in Adolescent Educational Performance" (Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Sumie Okazaki, and Dunchun Zheng); and (5) "Dropouts: Definitions, Causes, Consequences, and Remedies" (Gary Natriello). The second section, "Changing Definitions of Education," includes the following five chapters: (6) "Mapping Knowledge Perspectives in Studies of Educational Change" (Rolland G. Paulston); (7) "Expanding Definitions of Learning and Teaching: Notes from the MI Underground" (Mindy Kornhaber and Mara Krechevsky); (8) "Thinking Like a Fish: The Implications of the Image of School Community for Connections between Parents and Schools" (Mary Erina Driscoll); (9) "Education Reform and Policy Implications" (Kathryn M. Borman, Louis Castenell, Karen Gallagher, Sally B. Kilgore, and Debra A. Martinson); and (10) "Schools Must Do More for Children--Child Advocacy as an Educational Responsibility" (Judith H. Cohen). Section 3, "Learning and Assessment," is comprised of the following four chapters: (11) "The Content of Cultural Inventions: Learning and Curriculum" (Ivor F. Goodson); (12) "The Role of Standards and Assessments in National Reform" (David Lee Stevenson); (13) "The Politics of a National Curriculum" (Michael W. Apple); and (14) "High School Curriculum Differentiation and Postsecondary Outcomes" (Thomas B. Hoffer). The following five chapters are included in the fourth section, "New Strategies for Solving Educational Problems"; (15) "Policy, Knowledge, and Power: Some Issues for the Study of Educational Reform" (Thomas S. Popkewitz); (16) "Can the Big-City School System Be Governed?" (Kenneth K. Wong); (17) "Administrative Leadership and the Crisis in the Study of Educational Administration: Technical Rationality and Its Aftermath" (James G. Cibulka and Hanne B. Mawhinney); (18) "Privatization: Integrating Private Services in Public Schools" (Ellen B. Goldring and Anna V. Shaw Sullivan); and (19) "Why School Choice? A Question of Values" (Peter W. Cookson, Jr., and Barbara Schneider). Nine figures, 10 tables, and an index are included. References accompany each chapter. (LMI)