The challenge of school improvement for failing schools is a complex and much debated issue. This text attempts to help those working in, or working with, failing schools and aims to contradict the notion that there are no quick fixes for schools in difficulty. The issue of failing schools is looked at from a number of viewpoints. Section one contains policy perspectives; section two contains three schools' perspectives; section three contains chapters written by three external facilitators; section four addresses the issues from three prominant school effectiveness researchers; and section five gives international perspectives from the co-ordinator of the OECD Combating School Failure initiative.

'I wholeheartedly recommend it to all concerned with school improvement, be they practitioners, academics or policy makers ... there are powerful messages to be found within it. On a personal note, I can only hope that those responsible for forging educational policy will read the book and digest its contents.' - Cambridge Journal of Education Vol 28:3 1998

' ... teachers would do well to heed Michael Barber's call in this collection to begin to construct the teaching profession of the future based on the newly developed conviction that schools can and do make a difference.' - Educational Review Vol 51:1 1999

'The introduction alone provides food for thought.' - Education Review Vol 12:2 Winter 1998/1999

'This is simply a superb book ... It should be widely read by all in education, particulary at the highest levels of public decision making.' - Managing Schools Today

Louise Stoll is Coordinating Director of the International School Effectiveness and Improvement Centre (ISEIC) at the Institute of Education. Kate Myers is Professor of Professional Development in Education at Keele University.