JANE L. DAVID received a doctorate in education and social policy from Harvard University in 1974 after teaching high school mathematics in Washington, D.C.. Since then, her career in research and evaluation has focused on the connections between education policy and how schools and districts improve, particularly those serving children at risk of failure.

Dr. David directs the Bay Area Research Group, a small consulting firm, whose clients range from think tanks and government agencies to foundations and nonprofit organizations. She also conducts strategic reviews for nonprofit organizations and foundations. She has authored more than 100 reports, book chapters, articles, and commissioned papers.

LARRY CUBAN is Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University. He has taught courses in the methods of teaching social studies, the history of school reform, curriculum and instruction, and leadership. He has been faculty sponser of the Stanford/Schools Collaborative and Stanford's Teacher Education Program.

Trained as a historian, Dr. Cuban received a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1955 and an M.A. from Cleveland's Case-Western Reserve University three years later. He subsequently taught high school social studies in low-income schools for 14 years and directed a teacher education program that prepared returning Peace Corps volunteers to teach in inner-city schools. On completing his Ph.D. work at Stanford University in 1974, he assumed the superintendency of the Arlington, Va., Public Schools, a position he held until returning to Stanford in 1981. Since 1988 he has taught semester-long classes three times in local high schools. Between 1981 and 2001, students in the School of Education selected him for an award in excellence in teaching seven times.

His major research interests focus on the history of curriculum and instruction, educational leadership, school reform and the uses of technology in classrooms. His most recent books are: The Blackboard and the Bottom Line: Why Schools Can't Be Businesses (2004); Powerful Reforms with Shallow Roots: Improving Urban Schools (2003, edited with Michael Usdan); Why Is It So Hard To Get Good Schools? (2003); Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom (2001); and How Can I Fix It? An Educators' Guide to Solving Problems and Managing Dilemmas (2001).

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