The prospect of student failure is a constant preoccupation of the classroom teacher. Failure to learn represents a virtual assault on the very art of teaching and, therefore, on teachers themselves. The essays in this volume explore the interplay between childhood academic failure and the lives and careers of teachers. From diverse perspectives, the contributors analyze the role that race, class and disability play in the construction of student failure and how good teachers attempt to contain the resulting damage to the lives of children and to their own sense of professional efficacy. A concluding chapter by Henry Levin offers some ideas on how educational policy can address the problems of student and teacher failure discussed in this book.