Public education is in trouble.
News reports tell of violence, delinquency, poor test scores, poorer retention rates.
Toss out the system and start over. It s just bad kids, bad teachers, bad schools. But don t use those arguments in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Over the last five years, parish residents have learned that school reform can work if you take it school by school, let the teachers make decisions and get the community involved. I t all started in a Washington, D.C., boardroom, oddly enough, with a group of Fortune 500 CEOs known as the Business Roundtable.