As a writer I prefer to stand on a distant hill so that I can see the whole forest. I enjoy connecting the dots in order to find the big ideas. This project, however, took me off the hill and deep into the woods, both intellectually and emotionally. That's why I feel very fortunate that our K–12 cohort of more than 70 educators, students, experts, parents, and leaders accompanied me into those dark woods.

Richard Narramore, Wiley's senior editor, channeled our diverse energies and perspectives into the focus required to produce a coherent book. He also saw the need for a manifesto and map for those ready to launch their own local learning revolution.

Our K–12 MindShift began with Bill Latham, John Crawford, and Brian Cahill. I thank Bill and Brian for their willingness to coauthor this book. We could not have attracted the caliber of educators and thought leaders without their conviction and reputations.

I thank Dan Boggio for his visionary leadership. Dan's deep understanding of the battle helped us craft our questions and stories for others in, or just arriving to, the frontlines.

Chris Petrick, Ricky Kassanoff, Greg Moore, and Mark Hubbard deserve and will always have my deep gratitude. I appreciate the way these manufacturers supported our process and did so without ever—not once—asking to take the stage in order to promote their products or business.

Shannon Buerk, Jack Hess, Page Dettmann, Lynn Frickey, and Pete Dugas provided anchors that grounded us in the process of change, community engagement, and representing the kids most at risk. I thank each of them.

Our superintendents certainly modeled the role of change leadership. We are all indebted to Stan Rounds, David Vroonland, and Jeff Turner. David, I am forever grateful for “the collaborative hum.”

Our subject experts not only brought depth to our conversations but also confronted us when we wanted to move on. So I thank Eric Hamilton, Amy Yurko, Dan Beerens, Jaime Casap, Dennis Johnston, Ellen Wood, Katie King, Peter Bishop, and Kurt Andre for standing firm for what they know and we needed to know.

I thank other key summit participants for their fine work—Candis Parker, Arol Wolford, Tom Wimmer, Cindy Weinschreider, Chelsea Poulin, Alicia Fischer, Eric Batten, Joe Tankersley, Jordon Lockhart, Patrick Horne, and David Kinley.

We appreciate all of the teachers, principals, and administrators who helped us in so many ways: Joe Hollenbach, Nathan Siebenga, Michelle Kinder, LeAnne Kelley, Neil May, Linda Anderson, Martha Phillips, Allison Vinson, Suzanne Stell, Amy Kelton, Donyall Dickey, Angela Smith, Emily Massey, Paul Brown, and others whom I fear I've forgotten.

You will read about many others who directly contributed to our journey, including Tony Wagner, Joel Barker, Barbara Barnes, Michael Horn, Ken Robinson, Mike Feinberg, Larry Rosenstock, and Lou Cozolino. These leaders all gave us more than was necessary or expected; I am profoundly grateful for their help.

Michael Lagocki and Ed Chinn were instrumental partners in this project. Michael was the lead designer and facilitator for our summit event. He also captured our sessions as a live scribe and produced our comic. After Ed edited my previous book, I chose to include him in all of our summits. Doing so greatly helped the process.

I also thank my wife, Lisa; she participated in the summits as a mom, educator, and partner. She was the first one to read the draft of a chapter. If she said, “That's nice,” I knew I had to start over. If she said, “Wow . . .” I knew I had something. And, of course, I could not done this without a partner who made room for me to disappear for several writing retreats and to be somewhere else, even when I was home.

I also thank my children. I appreciate Nathan for traveling with me and taking part in the summits; he added a strong millennial voice to our deliberations.

And, I thank my son Tyler who let me interrogate his high school friends. I also thank Michelle for adding compelling and essential insight about her experience with the Machine. Sadly, most of that had been invisible to me.

I thank everyone I met while traveling. If I mentioned our K–12 project, everyone had a story about his or her encounter with the Education Machine as student or teacher or parent. It was a universal icebreaker. Everyone has a story about a school or a teacher.

I even thank everyone who shared their (sometimes loud) opinions about how to “fix” our schools. I'm glad we had that little talk.

Finally, I have learned that we all reap what we sow. If we invest in our kids, our nation will have a hope-filled future.