Diane Ravitch, America's foremost historian of education, says that public education in the United States is one of the pillars of our democratic society. In this eloquent book, she explains that our public schools have been wrongly criticized for low achievement, when federal data show that test scores and graduation rates are at their highest point in history - for black students, Hispanic students, white students, and Asian students - and dropout rates are at their lowest point in history.

But for 30 years and even longer, critics have wrongly claimed that the public schools are failing, and this mistaken narrative has set the stage for harmful, even disastrous federal legislation and programs.

George W. Bush's No Child Left behind law was passed with bipartisan support, allowing the federal government to impose testing on every child in every school. This is a practice unknown in other nations in the world. NCLB set impossible goals - that 100% of children would be proficient by the year 2014 - and many beloved public schools have been closed because they could not do the impossible.

This powerful book challenges a stale and failed status quo. It will give you fresh and important insights about the future of public education and the future of our society.