From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, 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 a chapter-by-chapter breakdown she puts forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve our public schools. 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.

Diane Ravitch was born in Houston, Texas, and graduated from the Houston public schools, Wellesley College, and Columbia University.  She is a research professor of education at New York University. She served as Assistant Secretary of Education for Research in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. She was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and 2001.  Ravitch is the author of ten previous books.  In 2011, she received the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize from the American Academy of Political and Social Science.