Is the work you give students engaging--enabling them to learn what they need to learn in order to succeed in the world? Maverick educator Phillip Schlechty believes that the key to improving education is to improve the quality of this student work. He calls this "Working the Work" (WOW), and he's developed a framework that allows educators to put the WOW principles into practice.

Beginning with 12 essential components of a WOW school, Schlechty suggests ways to improve the quality of content, organization of knowledge, measurement of achievement, nurturance of creativity, and novelty and variety of tasks. In addition, you'll get:

* Practical guidelines for re-designing classroom activity so that more students are highly engaged in schoolwork

* Clear and compelling standards for assessing student work

You'll also make clear connections between what students are doing and what they are expected to produce as you gain insight into the roles of teachers, principals, and superintendents--and, how they individually and collectively play a part in the WOW process.