This 300-page book contains summaries of commissioned papers that focus on understanding education as a system and offer recommendations for reform targeted toward school, district, and community components of the system.

The stated audience for Blueprints for Reform is "educators, parents, community and business leaders, legislators, and others" (p. xvi). Recommendations in each chapter are geared towards policymakers and administrators.

The purpose of the book is to "stimulate productive discussions of systemic issues in science education reform" (p. xv), to provide "a summary of some important issues and a few indications of prominent connections" (p. xv), and to stimulate discussions so "we can...come up with a way of thinking about the education system that will break new ground, that is integrative, yet builds on a deep understanding of the individual components of the system" (p. xv-xvi).

Blueprints for Reform contains guidelines for the implementation of Project 2061 and the National Science Education Standards, and it "grew out of Project 2061's conviction that serious efforts to achieve the science literacy goals in Science for All Americans ought to be based on an understanding of education as a system" (p. xi). The book is organized into three parts. Part I targets a number of foundational issues including equity, policy, finance, and research. Part II focuses on the school context, with chapters on school organization, curriculum connections, materials and technology, and assessment. Part III elaborates on the support structure, with attention toward the roles of teacher education, higher education, families and communities, and business and industry in K-12 science and mathematics education. Chapters include discussion of each topic, needed changes, successful models, and recommendations.

This guide is an excellent resource that has been thoughtfully written. It is substantiated with clear data illustrating how students are performing (including the mathematics performance of 17-year-olds by race and the science performance of eighth-grade students in many different countries), what kinds of preparation teachers have for teaching various subjects (including a chart showing the proportion of science teachers that have at least six courses in the discipline they teach), and what kinds of programs have actually demonstrated improvements in student performance.

Topics regarding the school context (Part II) are most directly related to classroom instruction, and could serve as a focal point for professional development for teachers. For example, the chapter on assessment could be used to aid teachers in learning about appropriate and fair assessments and understanding which assessments achieve certain goals. While most recommendations in this book are directed toward policy makers and administrators, the material would also be useful to ground teachers in the numerous structures within the educational system that impact their teaching and their students' learning.

Blueprints for Reform offers an excellent guide for localizing science education reform and could be used effectively with administrators and policy makers in conjunction with either Project 2061 or the National Science Education Standards to guide the implementation of science education reform.

A web site (http://project2061.aaas.org/) offers on-line conferences and discussions related to the book.