On his way to writing well over 100 cover stories for *Time,* Ed Magnuson worked for several years as the magazine’s education writer. This cover, one of his all-time favorites, represents something he rarely had the luxury to do: spend months on reporting some of it and writing all of it. God knows, he had help: dozens of *Time* reporters and editors sent in nominations, and a roster of 150 candidates got whittled down to 10. Greater things, however, awaited Magnuson, since he was about to get a new beat.