The concepts of teaching and learning today are very much at the heart of the entire agenda regarding the reform of education in the United States. Billions of dollars have been already spent or allocated in the push to make America's schools "world class." Needless to say, it would be foolhardy to really believe that the public schools of America are such total failures. They could not possibly be. It is more that the public schools have received such a bad public relations hit along with a devastating political black-eye that it's hard to do battle with those who seem to think that nothing good comes out of the school system if it cannot be tested and measured. We should acknowledge, however, that there are a tremendous number of underperforming schools in the nation.