Radical : fighting to put students first / Michelle Rhee.

Introduction: Call to arms -- Pt. 1: The journey. Roots in the classroom ; The heart of teaching ; Recruiting teachers ; The road to D.C. ; Breaking barriers ; In labor ; Students first -- Pt. 3: The movement. Honoring teachers ; Listening to students ; Empowering parents ; Challenging politicians -- Pt. 3: The promise. A radical's vision.

The United States is known as a world leader in innovation, boasting brilliant thinkers and trendsetting companies, but that status is at grave risk. American children are well outside the top-ten international student rankings in reading, science, and math; those rankings--not to mention the nation's position of leadership on everything from the economy to the military to issues of moral authority--will continue to plummet unless we take dramatic action. Michelle Rhee, a driving force behind American education reform, is ready to make a change. Here, this fearless and pioneering advocate draws on her own life story and delivers her plan for better American schools. Rhee's goal is to ensure that laws, leaders, and policies are making students--not adults--our top priority, and she outlines concrete steps that will put us on a dramatically different course. --From publisher description.