In 1998, the first edition of Teaching To Change The World broke new ground in teacher education by positioning the foundations and practices of American schooling in the context of the struggle for social justice, democratic communities, and a better world. Indeed, "teaching to change the world” has become more than a book title; for thousands of individuals and for entire teacher education programs it is an everyday expression that embodies rigorous preparation and the highest professional aspirations for becoming a teacher.

Author Jeannie Oakes was the founding director of UCLA’s Center X--the institutional home of the university’s teacher education program--a program based on the research and principles that Teaching To Change The World represents. Oakes draws from her distinguished research career as a sociologist of education to integrate the components of educational foundations into a thematic and ideological whole. The result is a sustainable theory of education that positions new teachers to be highly competent in the classroom, lifelong education reformers, and education leaders and partners with students and families. Co-author Martin Lipton brings to this book 31 years of classroom experience and a parallel career as education writer and consultant. His photographs of the book’s featured teachers and their students reveal that social justice classrooms are both ordinary and inspired.