“The two argue persuasively that devolution of power and expanded control of education by principals at their schools would not only establish accountability for results, like those shareholders demand of any corporation, but would also cut out large costs of the bureaucracies that have grown up around local school boards.” 

Wall Street Journal

“A comprehensive and detailed prescription for reform that is politically sophisticated and takes into account the clashing pressures placed on schools by stakeholders: the public education system needs a constitution.  The focus of the book’s proposals is on governance structures that separate responsibilities in ways that discourage serving the needs of adults over children.  According to the authors, a successful governance system would need to be efficient, equitable, transparent, accountable, and democratic.  Each chapter discusses the absence of some number of these five factors in current systems and what modifications would be necessary for school systems to implement these factors, taking into account all the consequences that would come with these changes.”

Choice

“For those who think the current education system needs a total reboot, Hill and Jochim have provided a detailed, informed, and politically sophisticated vision for how that might be done. Not everyone agrees that the current system is obsolete, and even those who do may question the specifics of their proposals, but no one who is serious about contemporary school reform can afford to ignore this book.”

Jeffrey R. Henig, Teachers College, Columbia University, and author of The End of Exceptionalism in American Education

“Hill and Jochim offer an engaging, thought-provoking, original, and quite ambitious redesign of K–12 education governance, that is rich in historical grounding and practical detail. It will surely generate a vigorous debate over education’s biggest issues and the problems that beset our current system.”

Julie Marsh, author of Democratic Dilemmas