Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-191) and index.

Introduction: The Brutal Facts About Instruction and Its Supervision -- I. Reality and Illusion in Public Schools -- 1. The Buffer -- 2. Is olation: The Enemy of Improvement -- 3. Leadership Interrupted: How the Buffer Compromises Supervision -- 4. Curricular Chaos -- II. Literacy Education: The Greatest Opportunity of All -- 5. The Power of Authentic Literacy -- 6. Authentic Literacy and Intellectual Development -- 7. T he Startling State of Literacy Education -- III. Learning and Leading i n the Professional Learning Community -- 8. Professional Learning Commu nities: The Surest, Fastest Path to Instructional Improvement -- 9. Lea dership in the Professional Learning Community -- 10. Scaling Up: Centr al Office and State-Level Leadership in the Learning Community -- Concl usion. Why Not Us? Why Not Now? -- Appendix A: Suggestions for Teaching Critical and Argumentative Literacy -- Appendix B: Start Here for Impr oving Teaching -- Appendix C: Agreements.