“A Call to the Village: Retooling Public Schools was written as a call to action for every citizen who feels a sense of responsibility for the state of public schools across America. An underlying assumption throughout the book is that each of us has a vested interest, directly or indirectly, in ensuring that our public schools produce highly skilled leaders, managers, workers, and citizens. The book is intended to build from the distinctive competencies of each sector, utilizing their respective strengths and proficiencies as starting points for retooling, reengineering, and redefining public school structures, systems and processes. It will help everyday people delineate, articulate, and synthesize their education priorities and concerns.” (Wana Duhart)

1. Provide a strategic roadmap for people and organizations that are interested in developing school prototypes and innovative teaching and learning models,
   
   
2. Present examples of how people and organizations are collaborating in education,
   
   
3. Stimulate dialogue and the formation of partnerships across the nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors, and
   
   
4. Dispel myths that have prevented sectors from working with one another in solving public and social problems.

A Call to the Village introduces cross-sectoral collaboration as a viable option for engaging the nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors in school transformation. Some of the benefits to be gained by partnering across sectors include improved:

• effectiveness
  
  
• efficiencies
  
  
• economies of scale
  
  
• organizational synergies
  
  
• cross-utilization of resources
  
  
• transferability of skills and assets
  

The book also emphasizes the impact of important local and global trends on the shifting paradigm in elementary and secondary public education:

• the role of school desegregation
  
  
• the accountability, testing, and standards debate
  
  
• the impact of globalization
  
  
• the changing roles of the sectors
  
  
• school choice
  
  
• teacher quality
  
  
• school hardware and software

The book is targeted at persons and organizations that make up the nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors, and is focused on the unique strengths and distinctive competencies of each sector:

• Nonprofit sector - the local and social service focuses of this sector will be important as collaborators devise strategies and plans for student populations and schools in neighborhoods and communities already being served by nonprofits [includes colleges, universities, community-based organizations, social service providers, foundations, and community development financial institutions]
  
  
• Private sector– the organizational and strategic coherence of private enterprises have great potential for transforming the organizational, administrative, and operational systems of schools [includes private companies, entrepreneurs, education management companies, private citizens, medical and health professionals, and industrial and service firms and corporations]
  
  
• Public sector– the federal, state, and local levels of government and their affiliate agencies and departments that are responsible for the oversight and delivery of equitable and high quality public education programs nationwide are the focus here, as they are knowledgeable about school age education [includes individual schools, school districts, teaching professionals, school administrators, and policymakers]
  
  
• Religious sector– the spiritual and moral stewardship of communities of faith and the prominence of religious institutions in neighborhoods and communities will be significant for gaining community acceptance of change and innovation for local schools [includes churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and ecumenical organizations]