Originally published in 1984, this book has been re-issued with a new and timely introduction and an index. Its six chapters provide a framework for viewing schools and teachers' roles within those schools and serve as a springboard for discussion about how to restructure schools and in what direction. Chapter 1, "The Social Realities of Teaching," develops a set of understandings about the nature of teaching and explores themes that capture some of the daily experience of working in schools. The second chapter, "Teaching and Learning in the Elementary School: A Three-Ring Circus," explores the social realities of teaching and focuses on one particular elementary school classroom. Drawing from three specific high schools, Chapter 3, "Life in Secondary Schools," examines, through the eyes of teachers, the difference between life in secondary schools and life in elementary schools. Chapter 4, "School Leadership: There Is No Magic," describes and analyzes the social realities of the principal's role in a school. Chapter 5, "Studies of School Improvement Efforts: Some Necessary Understandings," begins with a set of studies that take as their major concern the culture of schools and the process of and barriers to school improvement. The final chapter, "The Content of School Improvement: Thinking, Organizing and Acting," explores other issues relating to school improvement and discusses ways to provide for the continuing growth of teachers. (LL)