The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools

The book gives quantitative and qualitative research to completely debunk testing and the corporate takeover of education. Every teacher and parent in America should read it. There would then be a groundswell of protest against the current trends in education"reform."

It is very readible and flows well, very enjoyable as well as informative.

Diane Ravitch has done it again. Starting where DEATH AND LIFE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM left off, REIGN OF ERROR documents the hoax that is being perpetrated against the American people by corporate privatizers looking to profit off education by convincing Americans that public schools are "failing" and that the only solution is to turn education over to private providers through charter "public" schools, government-paid vouchers for private schools, and/or virtual on-line academies.

But as Diane thoroughly documents, these methods don't improve education, they only eliminate oversight over public funds. Furthermore - and worse - the privatization of public education is creating a multi-tiered educational system in which those who have the resources are able to choose the best education for their children, while poor children, children with disabilities and those learning English are left behind in schools stripped of resources.

Diane opens her book with a brilliant introduction warning that our schools are at risk, reminiscent of "A Nation at Risk",, the paper that kicked off the meme of "failing schools" and American students "falling behind" on international measures. But Diane turns this meme on its head. Our schools are indeed at risk - but the threat comes from the very sources which are promoting the failure meme. While there are certainly areas for improvement, American public education itself is in fact doing a fine job of educating America's future citizens, as it has since the beginning of publically provided schools.

The first three chapters address the who, what, why and how of the corporate reformers and the next several after that refute the "failure" claims of the reformers. Armed with plenty of data, Diane explores the reality behind test scores, international test scores, graduation rates and the so-called "achievement gap".

She next dives into the real reason for so-called "failing schools" and the so-called "achievement gap": poverty. She explores the physical, mental and social effects of poverty and how those effects impact academic achievement, as reflected in test scores and other measurements.

The next several chapters explore many of the specifics of reform, from looking at Michelle Rhee and Teach for America to exploring some of the bugaboos of the corporatists and their favorite "solutions" - merit pay, tenure, charters, online schools, the so-called "Parent Trigger", vouchers and school closures. Diane is really at her best in several of these sections as she explores and exposes the rampant corruption and trampling of our democratic rights and voices found in charter schools, voucher schools and online schools. The sections detailing charter schools and real estate deals alone would make the entire book worthwhile (if, of course, the entire book weren't already worthwhile, which it most definitely is).

Finally, Diane ends with what really should be a redundant and superfluous section offering her own solutions to the "problem" of public education, supported by data. You might think that simply exposing the true problems of public education would be enough - the solution should be to reverse the problematic "solutions" that have been inflicted so far. If someone is hitting you on over the head with a hammer and you're having trouble concentrating, the obvious solution would be for that person to stop hitting you, not for you to spend lots of money on new and "innovative" programs to improve your concentration.

But rather than be accused of offering no solutions, Diane, in very patient teacher fashion, lays out the real (and, frankly, obvious, at least to any thinking, caring person) steps we need to take to improve American education. Many of her solutions focus on reducing the biggest obstacle to academic achievement - again, poverty. Pregnant mothers and children need medical and nutritional support. We need to create universal access to high-quality pre-school education. Students of all ages and their families need wraparound services. We need to work to eliminate segregation. She also addresses class sizes, broadening the curriculum, strengthening the teaching profession and the proper use of charters and testing (since we probably can't get rid of them altogether).

She concludes with a rather hopeful vision that as Americans wake up to the realities of privatization and the loss of democratic control of the Commons, people will more and more begin to stand up and take back their schools. I hope that she is right. There is evidence - from the explosion of education blogs like hers to the Chicago Teachers Union strike last year to the growing Opt Out (of testing) movement - that she may be correct. But at the same time, newspapers and other sources continue to crank out anti-teacher, anti-union and anti-public school propaganda, and the comment sections are very often filled with more of the same, only more vicious. They say that people get the government they deserve. I both hope and fear that may be true.

Disclaimer: I have been an active participant in Diane's blog for well over a year now, almost from its inception. Although I've never met her personally, I feel like Diane is almost a personal friend (which is why I took the liberty of referring to her by first name, which I almost never do in reviews). I don't know that I learned anything from this book that I haven't learned in the hundreds of articles that Diane has lovingly and passionately posted over the months, but it is nice to have a well-organized, condensed compendium of all the arguments and the evidence that Diane has presented. I shared this book with a friend who's been a teacher for 20+ years now who has not been a participant of Diane's blog and she feels much the same way I do about the book. She commented, "I don't know whether to be happy that someone gets it, or sad that so many politicians don't."

Our whole Book Club loved this book. We agreed that it clearly and logically defined the problems and debunked the myths, and then went on to provide solutions which are inescapably needed- although will never be paid for in the present political climate.

This book is for all educators, in particular, Arne Duncan, current education secretary. Ravitch gives a masterful, thoroughly documented presentation of how the standardized testing movement only serves testing companies and tutorial services companies and have all but destroyed and undermined our nations public schools. When Barack Obama became president, it was expected by many educators that he would nullify the untenable No Child Left Behind law, referred to by educators as No Child Left Untested. Instead the president and education secretary managed to make it even worse, with the Race to the Top. Competition for limited resources does not place them where they are needed to level the playing field for the most disadvantaged students. I would like to challenge Secretary Duncan and President Obama to read this book and give serious thought to Ravitch's arguments before continuing to jeopardize, undermine, and sap any remaining vitality left in our nations public schools.

The book is very informative. I appreciate its sentiments towards public education. However it was definitely biased and failed to bring substantive data to some of its claims. That being said as an educator myself I agree with the majority of her points and feel it stated important for America to wake up to what's going on in education

This book relates the other side of the charter school challenge. I have always been concerned, ever since it's beginning, that these schools are the wedge issue into the destruction of the American PUBLIC school system.

Reading it again, for the second time. There is so much information on each page. Well researched, it is frightening when you realize how the right wing wants to privatize our public school education just to make a profit.

This is an excellent analysis of the current status of education affairs. It is an excellent critique of the changes in education evaluation of schools and teachers. Bill Gates and other billionaires should not be driving changes in education to privatization. Charter schools are a way to re-segregate the public schools. A school with no accountability is not better than one that has to play by the rules set up by the states. The federal government should not be a driving force in privatization.

Her voice is needed in the current debates. However, the book is about twice the length it should be due to repetitious content. I didn't get through it, but felt after a few chapters that I had the basic idea.

Education historian and professor at NYU, Ravitch shows via thorough research all the people and organizations who claim to be about education reform but are more about market gains and monied interests. Her own solutions for improving education will also benefit health care and prison problems throughout the US.

Unfortunately in the US a simple lie is more easily accepted than a more complex truth. Reign of Error is a common sense explanation of what is the true reality of education. Big business does not want to recognize the truth because they can not make money on the truth that education has improved in all areas for the last 25 years.

As an educator, I find this book extremely truthful. There is a danger of the for profit corporations taking over all education institutions. We need the control of those who do not have an agenda but instead have the welfare of the student as a future free citizen of our great country. The uneven education that could cause even more division of the classes. Diane Ravitch has researched this book very well. She has taken the reformers' reasons for privatising one by one and shown the fallacy of their logic.
If this book does not stimulate change in our school systems toward free real education for all students I would think all is lost.

Overwhelmingly in public polls we seem to be agreeing that in general our public schools are failing yet our own local public school is not. Those schools closes to us - the one our own children attends is giving our students an above average or great education. So, where exactly are all these failing schools? Why is there a disconnect in what we believe the state of American public schools to be and what we believe about those schools of which we have first hand knowledge? The facts Diane Ravitch presents in this book help to explain what may well be the truth about American public education. At minimum, anyone who thinks they know based on what we are fed in the "mass media" of today or wishes to know more, should read this book in an attempt to hear all sides of the story.

Ms. Ravetch certainly takes on the "reformers," leaving the Marquis of Queensbury rules in the locker room. To her, thank you for a spirited and painstakingly documented attack on those who would turn American public education into a privatized and homogenized echo of an Eisenhower-era ideal that exists primarily in their imaginations. Read REIGN OF ERROR only if you are open to having the value of the now comfortable regimen of standardized curricula and high-stakes testing challenged and shredded before your eyes.

I choose this book for a research paper on standardized testing for school. The book was very helpful and had some very key points for me to explain my paper. Also, by me reading this book, I managed to find out more about standardized testing then I ever knew about. I really enjoyed reading this book and recommended to anyone that is interested in learning more about this topic.

Diane Ravitch has the boldness to tell truth to power. She knows the "Emperor has no cloths" and dares say so. I've been a teacher for 39 years and she is one of the few authors to tell the truth about education in American. God bless you Ms. Ravitch.

Everyone interested in education policy should read this book, because it explains how the education reform policies being followed in our country are not supported, and in fact are contradicted, by research.

If you are concerned with and want to really understand what's going on with the American system of education, this book is gold. A serious analysis that looks at the root causes
of what's wrong, and how to fix it. Ms. Ravitch really knows her stuff!

Every politician who is making decisions about education in the USA should read this book! It should be handed out when people run for office. They must pass a quiz about education facts before they may run!

I have not completed the book, but picked certain chapters and the author is "right on" to what is happening
in education today. I'm eager to finish the book. The author is also a fantastic speaker.

Any student of current American public policy should have this book in their library. Ravitch lays out a clear, compelling case that citizens and policy makers should act decisively to protect and save our nation's pubic education systems from short-sighted profiteers and ideologues who understand neither the history or value of the fundamental institution that makes our nation great.

Ravitch makes empirical, pragmatic and evidence-based policy arguments in accessible prose to explain why public education should matter to every American, including everyone who does not have children in public schools. She clearly explains how public education is and has been threatened by, as Isaiah Berlin once wrote, the "reactionary forms of irrationalism" who are taken seriously by those who shape our national political debate. Her clear-sighted critiques of how the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top policies of the past decade have accelerated and distorted the mission and purpose of public education is impossible to ignore or refute.

Ravitch masterfully exposes the many radical reformers whose simplistic, unproven ideological and agenda-driven "reforms" have perverted and destroyed too many public education systems throughout the nation. Instead her conclusions include focusing on health care beginning at the pre-natal stage and continuing through adulthood. It includes respecting, supporting and honoring the professionalism of teachers and administrators. And most of all, it means restoring local, democratic control of public education.

Like the best works of Kevin Phillips and William Julius Wilson, Ravitch's case goes far beyond the simplistic labels of "conservative" and "liberal" that dominate today's political discourse. She lays out a workable framework that all Americans should embrace and commit to achieve. Acted upon and taken together with Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Reign of Error is one of those rare books that actually can change the course of the nation and reinvigorate the idea and promise of the American Dream. Or we can at least hope so.

A clear an insightful analysis on what is wrong with education policy in this country. Ms Ravitch reinforces her views with plenty of data in a style that is easy to read. A must read for all policymakers at botht he federal and state levels.

Ravitch outlines the problems with education "reform" in a clear and detailed way. She points out the flaws in the ironically untested Commmon Core curriculum, draws attention to how an overemphasis on testing is killing real learning, and sheds light on the fact that educational policy is being driven by corporations that want to earn profits off reform and billionaires with money to burn, who feel they know more about education than the teachers who work with students every day. I'm considering donating a copy to the White House, as I wonder if the president I voted for has any idea what Education Secretary Arne Duncan has done to public education.

Excellent book - detailed and thoughtful account of the very frightening manipulation of our public schools. Anyone who cares about the value of PUBLIC education and knows that it is a vital component of a vibrant democracy should read this!

Some day the privatizing hucksters will have to answer for their insanity. No nation that TRULY wanted to leave no child behind would choose a policy anything like the regime the "reformers" have foisted upon us.

The points Ms. Ravitch submits in this book are coming to fruition across the country. Alabama is experiencing the "corporate reform" movement and many of our legislators have left office in pursuit of $greener$ pastures linked to educational funds.