The Privatization Of Education And The Influence Of Business Over Education Reform

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The Privatization of Education

Author : Antoni Verger
Publisher : Teachers College Press
ISBN 13 : 0807774723
Total Pages : 393 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (77 download)

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Book Synopsis The Privatization of Education by : Antoni Verger

Download or read book The Privatization of Education written by Antoni Verger and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education privatization is a global phenomenon that has crystallized in countries with very different cultural, political, and economic backgrounds. In this book, the authors examine how privatization policies are being adopted and why so many countries are engaging in this type of education reform. The authors explore the contexts, key personnel, and policy initiatives that explain the worldwide advance of the private sector in education, and identify six different paths toward education privatization—as a drastic state sector reform (e.g., Chile, the U.K.), as an incremental reform (e.g., the U.S.A.), in social-democratic welfare states, as historical public-private partnerships (e.g., Netherlands, Spain), as de facto privatization in low-income countries, and privatization via disaster. Book Features: The first comprehensive, in-depth investigation of the political economy of education privatization at a global scale.An analysis of the different strategies, discourses, and agents that have contributed to advancing (and resisting) education privatization trends. An examination of the role of private corporations, policy entrepreneurs, philanthropic organizations, think-tanks, and teacher unions. “Rich in examples, careful in its analysis, important in its conclusions and recommendations for further work, this book is a vital, rigorous, up-to-date resource for education policy researchers.” —Stephen J. Ball, University College London “Few issues are as significant as is education privatization across the globe; few treatments of this issue offer both the breadth and nuanced understanding that this book does.” —Christopher Lubienski, Indiana University

Education and the Commercial Mindset

Author : Samuel E. Abrams
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067454580X
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (745 download)

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Book Synopsis Education and the Commercial Mindset by : Samuel E. Abrams

Download or read book Education and the Commercial Mindset written by Samuel E. Abrams and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-25 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America’s commitment to public schooling once seemed unshakable. But today the movement to privatize K–12 education is stronger than ever. Samuel E. Abrams examines the rise of market forces in public education and reveals how a commercial mindset has taken over. “[An] outstanding book.” —Carol Burris, Washington Post “Given the near-complete absence of public information and debate about the stealth effort to privatize public schools, this is the right time for the appearance of [this book]. Samuel E. Abrams, a veteran teacher and administrator, has written an elegant analysis of the workings of market forces in education.” —Diane Ravitch, New York Review of Books “Education and the Commercial Mindset provides the most detailed and comprehensive analysis of the school privatization movement to date. Students of American education will learn a great deal from it.” —Leo Casey, Dissent

A Political Education

Author : Elizabeth Todd-Breland
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469646595
Total Pages : 343 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

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Book Synopsis A Political Education by : Elizabeth Todd-Breland

Download or read book A Political Education written by Elizabeth Todd-Breland and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2018-10-03 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2012, Chicago's school year began with the city's first teachers' strike in a quarter century and ended with the largest mass closure of public schools in U.S. history. On one side, a union leader and veteran black woman educator drew upon organizing strategies from black and Latinx communities to demand increased school resources. On the other side, the mayor, backed by the Obama administration, argued that only corporate-style education reform could set the struggling school system aright. The stark differences in positions resonated nationally, challenging the long-standing alliance between teachers' unions and the Democratic Party. Elizabeth Todd-Breland recovers the hidden history underlying this battle. She tells the story of black education reformers' community-based strategies to improve education beginning during the 1960s, as support for desegregation transformed into community control, experimental schooling models that pre-dated charter schools, and black teachers' challenges to a newly assertive teachers' union. This book reveals how these strategies collided with the burgeoning neoliberal educational apparatus during the late twentieth century, laying bare ruptures and enduring tensions between the politics of black achievement, urban inequality, and U.S. democracy.

Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education

Author : Anna Hogan
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000202348
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education by : Anna Hogan

Download or read book Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education written by Anna Hogan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education asks how publicness is being redefined through the restructuring of nominally public school systems. Over the past few decades, governments have engineered a wave of reforms in their public systems opening them to privatisation and commercialisation. In public education systems competition, choice and autonomy have become entrenched vectors of these reforms. This edited collection carefully examines the difference between privatisation and commercialisation and traces the varying effects privatised and commercialised policy reforms have had in different educational contexts. Many countries have approached the thorny issues of school choice and school autonomy in different ways, and this book investigates the impact of these agendas across the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and India. This book brings together contemporary, international perspectives from high-profile policy academics on both privatisation and commercialisation in public education systems under the provocation of how the ‘public’ nature of schooling is changing. This is essential reading for those interested in the idea that current education policy reforms are reshaping what might be considered core educational practices in public schooling.

Global Education Reform

Author : Frank Adamson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317396952
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis Global Education Reform by : Frank Adamson

Download or read book Global Education Reform written by Frank Adamson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-02 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With contributions from Linda Darling-Hammond, Michael Fullan, Pasi Sahlberg, and Martin Carnoy, Global Education Reform is an eye-opening analysis of national educational reforms and the types of high-achieving systems needed to serve all students equitably. The collection documents the ideologically and educationally distinctive approaches countries around the world have taken to structuring their education systems. Focusing on three pairs of case studies written by internationally acclaimed experts, the book provides a powerful analysis of the different ends of an ideological spectrum----from strong state investments in public education to market-based approaches. An introductory chapter offers an overview of the theories guiding both neoliberal reforms such as those implemented in Chile, Sweden and the United States with efforts to build strong and equitable public education systems as exemplified by Cuba, Finland and Canada. The pairs of case studies that follow examine the historical evolution of education within an individual country and compare and contrast national educational outcomes. A concluding chapter dissects the educational outcomes of the differing economic and governance approaches, as well as the policy implications.

Understanding Educational Reform

Author : Raymond Horn
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1576078094
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (76 download)

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Book Synopsis Understanding Educational Reform by : Raymond Horn

Download or read book Understanding Educational Reform written by Raymond Horn and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2002-11-05 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only handbook of its kind to bring together materials from a wide range of authoritative works, providing the reader with a comprehensive overview of reform in American education. Crafted in ten skillfully written chapters, Educational Reform covers the history, politics, and processes of educational reform and addresses reforms in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Starting with a definition of educational reform and where its far-reaching results can lead, the work goes on to assess the role of the public in educational reform, the educational reform industry, and resistance to reform. Of interest to school boards and administrators and useful in graduate and undergraduate courses in education, it is written in a conversational tone that brings the subject out of the realm of dry analysis. Readers will benefit not only from the numerous case studies that intersperse the themes discussed, but also from the extensive bibliography of print and nonprint resources (including websites) listed for further study. There is little doubt that the classroom must change to meet the needs of the 21st century—read Educational Reform to learn just how.

Mapping Corporate Education Reform

Author : Wayne Au
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131764820X
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis Mapping Corporate Education Reform by : Wayne Au

Download or read book Mapping Corporate Education Reform written by Wayne Au and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mapping Corporate Education Reform outlines and analyzes the complex relationships between policy actors that define education reform within the current, neoliberal context. Using social network analysis and powerful data visualization tools, the authors identify the problematic roots of these relationships and describe their effects both in the U.S. and abroad. Through a series of case studies, each chapter reveals how powerful actors, from billionaire philanthropists to multinational education corporations, leverage their resources to implement free market mechanisms within public education. By comprehensively connecting the dots of neoliberal education reforms, the authors reveal not only the details of the reforms themselves, but the relationships that enable actors to amass troubling degrees of political power through network governance. A critical analysis of the actors and interests behind education policies, Mapping Corporate Education Reform uncovers the frequently obscured operations of educational governance and offers key insights into education reform at the present moment.

The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform

Author : Kenneth J. Saltman
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119083095
Total Pages : 567 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform by : Kenneth J. Saltman

Download or read book The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform written by Kenneth J. Saltman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-08-30 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform examines educational reform from a global perspective. Comprised of approximately 25 original and specially commissioned essays, which together interrogate educational reform from a critical global and transnational perspective, this volume explores a range of topics and themes that fully investigate global convergences in educational reform policies, ideologies, and practices. The Handbook probes the history, ideology, organization, and institutional foundations of global educational reform movements; actors, institutions, and agendas; and local, national, and global education reform trends. It further examines the “new managerialism” in global educational reform, including the standardization of national systems of educational governance, curriculum, teaching, and learning through the rise of new systems of privatization, accountability, audit, big-data, learning analytics, biometrics, and new technology-driven adaptive learning models. Finally, it takes on the subjective and intersubjective experiential dimensions of the new educational reforms and alternative paths for educational reform tied to the ethical imperative to reimagine education for human flourishing, justice, and equality. An authoritative, definitive volume and the first global take on a subject that is grabbing headlines as well as preoccupying policy makers, scholars, and teachers around the world Edited by distinguished leaders in the field Features contributions from an illustrious list of experts and scholars The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students of education throughout the world as well as the policy makers who can institute change.

Schools or Markets?

Author : Deron R. Boyles
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135606919
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (356 download)

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Book Synopsis Schools or Markets? by : Deron R. Boyles

Download or read book Schools or Markets? written by Deron R. Boyles and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-12-13 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges readers to consider the consequences of commercialism and business influences on and in schools. Critical essays examine the central theme of commercialism via a unique multiplicity of real-world examples. Topics include: *privatization of school food services; *oil company ads that act as educational policy statements; *a parent's view of his child's experiences in a school that encourages school-business partnerships; *commercialization and school administration; *teacher union involvement in the school-business partnership craze currently sweeping the nation; *links between education policy and the military-industrial complex; *commercialism in higher education, including marketing to high school students, intellectual property rights of professors and students, and the bind in which professional proprietary schools find themselves; and *the influence of conservative think tanks on information citizens receive, especially concerning educational issues and policy. Schools or Markets?: Commercialism, Privatization, and School-Business Partnerships is compelling reading for all researchers, faculty, students, and education professionals interested in the connections between public schools and private interests. The breadth and variety of topics addressed make it a uniquely relevant text for courses in social and cultural foundations of education, sociology of education, educational politics and policy, economics of education, philosophy of education, introduction to education, and cultural studies in education.

The State, Business and Education

Author : Gita Steiner-Khamsi
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1788970330
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (889 download)

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Book Synopsis The State, Business and Education by : Gita Steiner-Khamsi

Download or read book The State, Business and Education written by Gita Steiner-Khamsi and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-26 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Businesses, philanthropies and non-profit entities are increasingly successful in capturing public funds to support private provision of schooling in developed and developing countries. Coupled with market-based reforms that include weak regulation, control over workforces, standardization of processes and economies of scale, private provision of schooling is often seen to be convenient for both public authorities and businesses. This book examines how the public subsidization of these forms of private education affects quality, equality and the realization of human rights. With original research from leading experts, The State, Business and Educationsheds light on the privatization of education in fragile circumstances. It illustrates the ways in which private actors have expanded their involvement in education as a business, and shows the influence of policy borrowing on the spread of for-profit education. Case studies from Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India and Syrian refugee camps illustrate the ways in which private actors have expanded their involvement in education as a business. This book will be of interest not only to academics and students of international and comparative education, but also to education development professionals in both the private and public sectors, with its empirical assessment of case studies, and careful consideration of the lessons to be learned from each. Contributors include: M. Avelar, J. Barkan, M. de Koning, A. Draxler, C. Fontdevila, S. Kamat, F. Menashy, M.C. Moschetti, E. Richardson, B. Schulte, C.A. Spreen, G. Steiner-Khamsi, A. Verger, Z. Zakharia, A. Zancajo

The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform

Author : Kenneth J. Saltman
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 111908234X
Total Pages : 539 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform by : Kenneth J. Saltman

Download or read book The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform written by Kenneth J. Saltman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-08-30 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform examines educational reform from a global perspective. Comprised of approximately 25 original and specially commissioned essays, which together interrogate educational reform from a critical global and transnational perspective, this volume explores a range of topics and themes that fully investigate global convergences in educational reform policies, ideologies, and practices. The Handbook probes the history, ideology, organization, and institutional foundations of global educational reform movements; actors, institutions, and agendas; and local, national, and global education reform trends. It further examines the “new managerialism” in global educational reform, including the standardization of national systems of educational governance, curriculum, teaching, and learning through the rise of new systems of privatization, accountability, audit, big-data, learning analytics, biometrics, and new technology-driven adaptive learning models. Finally, it takes on the subjective and intersubjective experiential dimensions of the new educational reforms and alternative paths for educational reform tied to the ethical imperative to reimagine education for human flourishing, justice, and equality. An authoritative, definitive volume and the first global take on a subject that is grabbing headlines as well as preoccupying policy makers, scholars, and teachers around the world Edited by distinguished leaders in the field Features contributions from an illustrious list of experts and scholars The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students of education throughout the world as well as the policy makers who can institute change.

Misguided Education Reform

Author : Nancy E. Bailey
Publisher : R&L Education
ISBN 13 : 1475803583
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (758 download)

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Book Synopsis Misguided Education Reform by : Nancy E. Bailey

Download or read book Misguided Education Reform written by Nancy E. Bailey and published by R&L Education. This book was released on 2013-07-29 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Misguided Education Reform: Debating the Impact on Students argues for reforms that will help, not hurt, America’s public school students. Early childhood education, testing, reading, special education, discipline, loss of the arts, and school facilities, are all areas experiencing reform in the wrong direction. This book says “no” to the reforms that fail, and challenges Americans to address the real student needs that will fix public schools and make America strong.

The End of Public Schools

Author : David W. Hursh
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317619676
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis The End of Public Schools by : David W. Hursh

Download or read book The End of Public Schools written by David W. Hursh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The End of Public Schools analyzes the effect of foundations, corporations, and non-governmental organizations on the rise of neoliberal principles in public education. By first contextualizing the privatization of education within the context of a larger educational crisis, and with particular emphasis on the Gates Foundation and influential state and national politicians, it describes how specific policies that limit public control are advanced across all levels. Informed by a thorough understanding of issues such as standardized testing, teacher tenure, and charter schools, David Hursh provides a political and pedagogical critique of the current school reform movement, as well details about the increasing resistance efforts on the part of parents, teachers, and the general public.

Geographies of Globalized Education Privatization

Author : Kevin Mary
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031378539
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (313 download)

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Book Synopsis Geographies of Globalized Education Privatization by : Kevin Mary

Download or read book Geographies of Globalized Education Privatization written by Kevin Mary and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the complex and various forms that privatization of education takes on a global scale at different ages of schooling. Through the spread of neoliberal policies in education both in the global North and the global South, the book suggests that this process is leading to new forms of schooling and socio-spatial dynamics linked to the creation of increasingly competitive school markets. The book highlights some of the main issues that such competition generates by focusing on the acceleration of the segregative processes on one hand but also on the alternatives that are emerging regarding this global context on the other hand. It considers processes of domination, hegemony, but also exclusion and segregation, eventually exploring contradictions inherent to societies. It presents innovative empirical and conceptual research by international scholars from the fields of social geography, sociology, history and demography in the United States, Lebanon, France, Afghanistan and Chile, thereby transcending disciplinary boundaries. Developed in under or unexplored contexts, the book broadens the reflection to social representations, individual and collective strategies, adaptation, innovation and also resistances.

Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent

Author : Thomas C. Hunt
Publisher : SAGE Publications
ISBN 13 : 1452265739
Total Pages : 1113 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (522 download)

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Book Synopsis Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent by : Thomas C. Hunt

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent written by Thomas C. Hunt and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2010-01-12 with total page 1113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Educational reform, and to a lesser extent educational dissent, occupy a prominent place in the annals of U.S. education. Whether based on religious, cultural, social, philosophical, or pedagogical grounds, they are ever-present in our educational history. Although some reforms have been presented as a remedy for society′s ills, most programs were aimed toward practical transformation of the existing system to ensure that each child will have a better opportunity to succeed in U.S. society. Educational reform is a topic rich with ideas, rife with controversy, and vital in its outcome for school patrons, educators, and the nation as a whole. With nearly 450 entries, these two volumes comprise the first reference work to bring together the strands of reform and reformers and dissent and dissenters in one place as a resource for parents, policymakers, scholars, teachers, and those studying to enter the teaching profession. Key Features Opens with a historical overview of educational reform and dissent and a timeline of key reforms, legislation, publications, and more Examines the reform or dissent related to education found in theories, concepts, ideas, writings, research, and practice Addresses how reformers and dissenters become significant culture-shaping people and change the way we conduct our lives Key Themes Accountability Biographies Concepts and Theories Curriculum and Instruction Diversity Finances and Economics Government Organizations?Advisory Organizations?Business and Foundations Organizations?Curriculum Organizations?Government Organizations?Professional Organizations?Think Tanks Public Policy Religion and Religious Education Reports School Types Special Needs Technology This authoritative work fills a void in the literature in the vast areas of educational reform and dissent, making it a must-have resource for any academic library. Availability in print and electronic formats provides students with convenient, easy access, wherever they may be.

Learning to Teach in an Era of Privatization

Author : Christopher A. Lubienski
Publisher : Teachers College Press
ISBN 13 : 0807777676
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (77 download)

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Book Synopsis Learning to Teach in an Era of Privatization by : Christopher A. Lubienski

Download or read book Learning to Teach in an Era of Privatization written by Christopher A. Lubienski and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education policymakers often demonstrate surprisingly little awareness of how popular reforms impact teaching and teacher education. In this book, well-regarded scholars help readers develop a more robust understanding of the nature of teacher preparation, as well as an in-depth grasp of how popular policies, practices, and ideologies have taken root domestically and internationally. Contributors include Deron Boyles, Anthony Cody, Kerry Kretchmar, Carmen Montecinos, Beth Sondel, and Christopher Tienken. “This book will help readers consider the possibilities of democratic visions in the teaching profession and in public education, particularly in this time of intense political polarization when critical citizen engagement with our public institutions and policies is deeply needed.” —Janelle Scott, University of California, Berkeley “The chapters in this book make clear that ongoing policy disconnects cannot be ignored and that now is the time to elevate the teaching profession for students who have faced historical inequities.” —Julian Vasquez Heilig, dean, University of Kentucky College of Education “Public teaching and teacher education in the U.S. and in many other parts of the world are under assault by concerted efforts to deregulate and marketize them. This collection of essays examines the consequences of these privatization efforts in the U.S., Chile, and Singapore and should be required reading for those wanting to understand their complexity and consequences for teaching and teacher education today.” —Ken Zeichner, Boeing Professor of Teacher Education, University of Washington

Reign of Error

Author : Diane Ravitch
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0385350899
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (853 download)

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Book Synopsis Reign of Error by : Diane Ravitch

Download or read book Reign of Error written by Diane Ravitch and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, “whistle-blower extraordinaire” (The Wall Street Journal), author of the best-selling The Death and Life of the Great American School System (“Important and riveting”—Library Journal), The Language Police (“Impassioned . . . Fiercely argued . . . Every bit as alarming as it is illuminating”—The New York Times), and other notable books on education history and policy—an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch argues that the crisis in American education is not a crisis of academic achievement but a concerted effort to destroy public schools in this country. She makes clear that, contrary to the claims being made, public school test scores and graduation rates are the highest they’ve ever been, and dropout rates are at their lowest point. She argues that federal programs such as George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama’s Race to the Top set unreasonable targets for American students, punish schools, and result in teachers being fired if their students underperform, unfairly branding those educators as failures. She warns that major foundations, individual billionaires, and Wall Street hedge fund managers are encouraging the privatization of public education, some for idealistic reasons, others for profit. Many who work with equity funds are eyeing public education as an emerging market for investors. Reign of Error begins where The Death and Life of the Great American School System left off, providing a deeper argument against privatization and for public education, and in a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, putting forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve it. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it. For Ravitch, public school education is about knowledge, about learning, about developing character, and about creating citizens for our society. It’s about helping to inspire independent thinkers, not just honing job skills or preparing people for college. Public school education is essential to our democracy, and its aim, since the founding of this country, has been to educate citizens who will help carry democracy into the future.