Making School Better

Martz ( Ministry of Greed ) focuses his examination of educational reforms on two principles--first, that the best changes come not in big gulps but in ``small bites''; and second, that students' belief in adults' caring about them is more important than the spe cific manner in which that care is shown. Martz profiles a dozen programs that are changing American education: one replaces the traditional slow-learners class with mainstreaming combined with supplementary skills lessons; another teaches moral education through a program of limited democracy administered by students and teachers together. A suburban L.A. teacher shows what one energetic, dedicated educator can do: his classes have written simplified voting booth instructions and gotten the California legislature to support landscaping with drought-resistant plants. The parent involvement programs in Indianapolis include innovations such as homework for parents and brown-bag seminars in the workplace. Martz pleads his case for small-bite reforms persuasively; this book should be required reading for presidential aspirants and anyone else who would lead America--not to mention for concerned parents. Author tour. (Aug.)