Sam Chaltain is an innovator in school reform... one of the umbrella topics that comes up when we talk about saving music programs. The value of Music is often overlooked in favor of hard numbers, testing, double dosing students (remedial work in addition to regular classes). We can all learn from the writings of Sam. He is the author or co-author of six books: The First Amendment in Schools (ASCD, 2003); First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights (Oxford University Press, 2006);American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community(Rowman & Littlefield, 2009); We Must Not Be Afraid to be Free: Stories Of Free Expression in America (Oxford, 2011); Faces of Learning: 50 Powerful Stories of Defining Moments in Education (Jossey-Bass, 2011); and Our School: Searching for Community in the Era of Choice (Teachers College Press, 2013).
His web page has many videos about students and the reforms he purports in action.