In this powerful collection of personal accounts, successful and respected teachers from across the country reveal how recent education policies have played out in their schools and classrooms in negative and counterproductive ways, and offer teacher-led alternatives for providing equitable, engaging, and empowering education. Framed by critical analyses of the major trends and policies enacted over the past fifteen years, Inside Our Schools adds to the understanding of unintended consequences of policy on classroom practice as well as the limits of current policies--which are uninformed by the actual conditions that teachers face--to improve teaching and learning. It also reveals the honest struggles of educators seeking to do the right thing for students in the face of enormous obstacles and underscores the need to inject teacher voices and perspectives in education policy making going forward. "Inside Our Schools" provides valuable insights for all those who worry and wonder about the future of education reform: scholars and researchers who are contributing to the preparation of the next generation of public educators; policy makers who need a broader context of the impact of their policy decisions; parents who are trying to understand what is best for their children; and current educators who want to hear, learn, and reflect on the perspectives of peers from across the country. Following an introduction the book is divided into five sections. Section 1, "Accountability: High-Stakes Testing Takes Over" presents the following: (1) Snap If You Hear Me: Re-Forming an English Classroom (Sarah Donovan, Chicago, Illinois); (2) Nurturing Struggling Learners' Spirits in the School Testing Culture (Graeham Dodd, Alexandria, Virginia); (3) What Happens When Common Doesn't Address Everyone (Sean McAdam, Boston, Massachusetts); (4) Accept, Reject, Dismantle: The Life of a Testing Coordinator (Larissa Pahomov, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania);and (5) Alternatives to Standardized Tests: How Performance-Based Assessments Supported a Math Team's Journey Toward AP Calculus (Kari Kokka, New York, New York). Part 2, "Quality. Measuring A Teacher's Worth" provides: (6) Why We Teach and Run: Alternative Certification and the Two-Year Teacher (E. R. Santana, New York, New York); (7) Just Starting Out: Evaluating and Supporting New Teachers (Jacquelynn Charles, Chicago, Illinois); (8) What Professional Development Looks Like When You Trust Teachers (Linda Bauld, San Francisco, California); (9) Using Teacher-Led Research to Improve Instruction (Aijeron Simmons, Oakland, California); and (10) We Are the Ones in the Classroom-Ask Us! Student Voice in Teacher Evaluations (Riana Good, Boston, Massachusetts). Section 3, Choice: Competition as the Path to Innovation provides: (11) Socially Inequitable Education: Co-Locations and the Widening of the Achievement Gap (Ruth Luevanos, Los Angeles, California); (12) "If This Isn't the Solution, What Is?" (Radha Radkar, New York, New York); (13) What Choice? How Education Reform Is Crushing Our Montessori School ( Stephanie Schneider, Milwaukee, Wisconsin); (14) Not an Oxymoron: Our Union-Led, Community-Based Charter School (Brandon Ligon, Austin, Texas); and (15) Districts Innovate Too! A Teacher-Led STEM School Offers a New Model (Virginia Rhodes, Cincinnati, Ohio). Section 4, Failure: When Schools Don't Pass the Test provides: (16) On Dissonance and Light: How to Tell a Story of Success or Failure (K. Jennifer Oki, New York, New York); (17) Under Pressure: The Unintended Consequences of Education Reform (Alex Diamond, Memphis, Tennessee); (18) You're It! On Being Targeted for Turnaround (Megan Behrent, New York, New York); (19) After the Takeover: Critical Educators Need Not Apply (Timothy Bernier, Chicago, Illinois); and (20) From Whittier to Greenleaf: A Community-Based Transformation Story (Liz Sullivan, Oakland, California). Part 5, Equity: From Here to Educational Justice contains: (21) Holding on to Child-Driven Teaching in a Data-Driven World (Michelle Gunderson, Chicago, Illinois); (22) Preparing the Whole Student for College (Ellen Baxt, New York, New York); (23) This Is What Restorative Justice Looks Like (Anthony Bromberg, Austin, Texas); (24) Rethinking Educational Equity: When "Equal" Isn't Enough (Lynne Gardner-Allers, Portland, Oregon); and (25) What Got Left Behind: Fourth Graders Uncover Inequity and Find Their Voice (John Lockhart and Greta McHaney-Trice, Lansing, Michigan). Also included are notes, acknowledgements, about the editor, and an index.