From Publishers Weekly In the Next Century Schools Program， originated by the RJR Nabisco Foundation in the 1980s when Gerstner was CEO of RJR， corporations and schools collaborate to produce excellence in education， thereby serving their mutual needs. In telling the experiences of 43 schools across the country--in Oregon， Texas， California， Maine， etc.--that have received grants totaling $30 million from the program， Gerstner， now chairman of IBM， and his colleagues， specialists in education research， describe resourceful teachers， principals and parents who believe they can "overcome the stifling culture of the education bureaucracy and create new learning environments which will produce more qualified students." That public schools can be reformed by personal leadership and goal-setting is the thrust of this report that admits a few failures. While technology plays a big role in many reform strategies covered in these pages， the design of this major education program also offers a wide variety of initiatives， such as lengthened school days， double periods and seminars on literature and staffs trained in "total quality management" (TQM). Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information， Inc. From Library Journal This is yet another book lamenting the dismal state of American education and offering a panacea for reform. This time， the focus is on the Next Century Schools Program， a project originally sponsored by the RJR Nabisco Foundation as a way for business to help education. Through the project， some 60 public schools nationwide have received grants to experiment with innovative ideas and new technology， and the successes are reported here. The authors， all business leaders and sponsors of the project， are steadfast believers in the competitive marketing system for education: "what works for business works for schools." They assert that entrepreneurship， teacher empowerment， technology， and marketing principles with simple organizational ideas can revitalize schools. The ideas are not uninteresting， but the book reads like a marketing textbook replete with the familiar buzzwords and gimmicks. For popular education collections.- Arla Lindgren， St. John's Univ . Lib.， Jamaica， N.Y.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews