This book critiques the ideology of testing, describing a very different positive vision forged in the success stories of small public schools that were created in Boston and New York. These nationally acclaimed schools relied upon trusting teachers to use their own judgement, inviting parents into close relationships with schools, and surrounding children with adults who know them well. The book traces the enormous educational value of trust; the crucial and complicated trust between parents and teachers; how teachers need to become better judges of one another's work; how race and class complicate trust at all levels; and how to begin scaling up from the kinds of successes already created. Part 1, "Trust and the Culture of Schools," includes (1) "Learning in the Company of Adults," (2) "Experiments in Trust: The Mission Hill School an Others," (3) "Parents and Schools," (4) "Teachers Trusting Teachers," and (5) "Trusting Each Other's Agendas and Intentions: The Dynamics of Race and Class." Part 2, "Testing and Trust," includes (6) "Why Tests Don't Test What We Think They Do," (7) "Standardization versus Standards," and (8) "The Achievement Gap." Part 3, "A Broader Vision," includes (9) "Scaling Up: Stacking the Odds in Favor of the Best" and (10) "Democracy and Public Education." An annotated bibliograhy is appended. (SM)