The recent thinking of 20 experts in the field of school improvement is represented in this collection of essays. The authors have participated in studies from the national level to the single school level, have been involved in past and present reform efforts, and have contributed to educational policy and theory. In this book they go beyond their previous thinking to consider new avenues to school improvement. The first section of the book comprises essays that extend and refine old ideas. The essays and their authors are: "The Preparation of Teachesrs Revisited," by Seymour Sarason; "How Do We Think about Our Craft?" by Maxine Greene; "Seductive Images and Organizational Realities in Professional Development," by Judith Warren Little; "Mutual Adaptation and Mutual Accomplishment: Images of Change in a Field Experiment," by Tom Bird; "Rethinking the Quest for School Improvement: Some Findings from the DESSI Study," by A. Michael Huberman and Matthew B. Miles; "Reconstruing Educational Innovation," by Louis M. Smith, John J. Prunty, David C. Dwyer, and Paul F. Kleine; and "School Improvement: Themes and Variations," by Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller. The book's second section focuses on fresh ways to think about school improvement. These essays and their authors are: "Educational Change: Revival Tent, Tinkertoys, Jungle, or Carnival?" by Terrence Deal; "Teachers and Mothers: Facing New Beginnings," by Karen Kepler Zumwalt; "Images of Schools," by Phillip C. Schlecty and Anne Walker Joslin; "Teacher Evaluation and School Improvement," by Milbrey Wallin McLaughlin; "Interactive Research and Development: Partners in Craft," by Joann Jacullo-Noto; "Teacher Directed In-Service: A Model That Works," by Judith Schwartz; and "Beyond the Commission Reports: Toward Meaningful School Improvement," by A. Harry Passow. (PGD)