John Adams’ Promise: How to Have Good Schools for All Our Children, Not Just for Some
Curriculum reform, structural reform, funding reform, organization reform— all these 20th-century efforts have failed to make a significant dent in the achievement gap and the performance of disadvantaged students, especially in cities and poor rural areas.
What are the most important targets for school improvement? John Adams' Promise contains three essays.
"The Three Big Rocks of Education Reform" discusses the need for 1) teaching expertise based on professional knowledge, 2) leadership for strong organizational culture, and 3) higher salaries and differentiated career paths for teachers.
The second essay, "The Significance of the Geographical State and the Ten Processes of Educational Reform", talks about the ten subsystems that form the supply chain for the teacher workforce. It defines the roles of the university, the state, the school district, and the individual school.
"Including Student Results in Teacher Evaluation - A Case Study in Focus on Teaching Expertise," the third essay, is a case study of teacher evaluation in Montgomery County, Maryland. It includes samples of teacher evaluations.