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No school district can be all charismatic leaders and super-teachers. It cant start from scratch, and it cant fire all its teachers and principals when students do poorly. Great charter schools can only serve a tiny minority of students. Whether we like it or not, most of our youngsters will continue to be educated in mainstream public schools.The good news, as David L. Kirp reveals in Improbable Scholars, is that theres a sensible way to rebuild public education and close the achievement gap for all students. Indeed, this is precisely whats happening in a most unlikely place Union City, New Jersey, a poor, crowded Latino community just across the Hudson from Manhattan. The school district--once one of the worst in the state--has ignored trendy reforms in favor of proven game-changers like quality early education, a word-soaked curriculum, and hands-on help for teachers.