This book presents the argument that teachers need more time for students, more time for planning, and more time for teaching. It claims that the United States should adopt and pay for the model used for public schools elsewhere in the world by having smaller classes, fewer classes per day for each teacher, and more work time for teachers to plan what they teach and to evaluate the work of individual students. Teacher knowledge must be the basis for both planning and management decisions about how to spend money and time so that each child is well served. Furthermore, teachers, school administrators, and public officials need a common basis for deciding issues that affect educational quality. These needs are explored through classroom stories, which reveal the nature of the American school, the teacher's job, how little time a teacher has for each child, and how school management affects the quality of the teacher's time with students. The book features a "homework" section that includes exercises that address classroom decisions, recruitment, training, and evaluation, all of which can be used in schools and school districts to effect change. (Contains an index and 52 references.) (RJM)