As public schools become increasingly embattled by budget shortfalls, crowded buildings, and ever-more-rigid curricula, the burden of these restrictions has drastically changed the way children are expected to learn. Nowhere is this more obvious or more devastating than classrooms in high-need urban areas. Drawing upon teachers' firsthand experiences in some of today's most demanding schools, leading education experts Beverly Falk and Megan Blumenreich...

500 top college graduates become teachers and confront the crisis in our schools; the story of the Teach for America project.

Seventy inspiring stories by teachers explore the joys and challenges of teaching and offer examples of activities that have made a difference in the lives of their students.