This book describes a strategy for school reform, "planning backwards from exhibitions," which is a collective invention of the Coalition of Essential Schools. The strategy is based on the principle that graduation from high school should be based on genuine achievement. The first article, by Joseph P. McDonald, explains that the purpose of student exhibitions is to: (1) ensure that students achieve a genuine level of understanding in essential intellectual matters that can be transferred to new contexts; and (2) help the school evaluate itself on the basis of its students' performance. The next three articles describe three schools' uses of different kinds of student assessment--the position paper, the multimedia exhibition, and socratic seminars and student essays. The authors include Sidney Smith of English High School Boston (Massachusetts); Dorothy Turner and Marian Finney of Walbrook High School, Baltimore (Maryland); and Eileen Barton of Sullivan High School, Chicago (Illinois). The final article, by Joseph P. McDonald, discusses four questions about schooling: How is our school doing?, What help does our school need? What is good enough for our kids? and How shall we spend our days in school? One figure is included. (LMI)