Tim Clifford is a teacher in New York. In this article, published on WNYC’s blog “Schoolbook,” he reviews my book Reign of Error.

Tim focuses on the book’s solutions, which he describes as “womb to dorm.”

Tim recounts the research-based proposals that I offer, and concludes:

I don’t know about you, but I long for a public school system like this. Imagine a system in which students are healthy and start out on a level playing field. Imagine teaching reasonably sized classes in a school that emphasizes a rich curriculum over endless test prep. Imagine being respected rather than scapegoated, and working in an environment of professionalism and collaboration. Imagine being more concerned with the progress of your students than the points you’ve earned on the Danielson rubric.

Imagine coming home on the second day of school and posting to Facebook how much you love your job and how you look forward to each and every day.

It can happen, but it will take the vision of people like Diane Ravitch and the courage of politicians, union leaders, and other stakeholders to make it a reality. 

Dora Taylor is a prominent education activist in in Seattle.

In her review of “Reign of Error,” Taylor says the book is an excellent guide to what is happening in school districts across America.

She writes:

“Dr. Ravitch shatters one corporate reform myth after another with clarity providing excellent background information in the Notes and Appendix of this book.

“Because of her courageousness and direct approach, expect the corporate media to attack her because no one is left standing in this book, at least on the reform side, from President Obama’s support of school privatization to the machinations of Michelle Rhee.

“This book is a perfect reference guide to all things ed reform. Don’t understand much about test scores? Check out the chapters “The Facts About Test Scores” and “The Facts About International Test Scores”. Don’t know the history of Michelle Rhee? Go to “The Mystery of Michele Rhee”. How about the Parent Trigger? Read the chapter “Parent Trigger or Parent Tricker”. (Love the title).

“The best part is that after Dr. Ravitch explains all things corporate reform, she provides real solutions to the challenges of public education. The answers aren’t easy, there is no silver bullet as she explains, but the solutions are based on a wide range and depth of knowledge, history, experience and good old-fashion common sense.”

Dora Taylor is a prominent education activist in in Seattle.

In her review of “Reign of Error,” Taylor says the book is an excellent guide to what is happening in school districts across America.

She writes:

“Dr. Ravitch shatters one corporate reform myth after another with clarity providing excellent background information in the Notes and Appendix of this book.

“Because of her courageousness and direct approach, expect the corporate media to attack her because no one is left standing in this book, at least on the reform side, from President Obama’s support of school privatization to the machinations of Michelle Rhee.

“This book is a perfect reference guide to all things ed reform. Don’t understand much about test scores? Check out the chapters “The Facts About Test Scores” and “The Facts About International Test Scores”. Don’t know the history of Michelle Rhee? Go to “The Mystery of Michele Rhee”. How about the Parent Trigger? Read the chapter “Parent Trigger or Parent Tricker”. (Love the title).

“The best part is that after Dr. Ravitch explains all things corporate reform, she provides real solutions to the challenges of public education. The answers aren’t easy, there is no silver bullet as she explains, but the solutions are based on a wide range and depth of knowledge, history, experience and good old-fashion common sense.”

The Indignant Teacher is passionate about education. She lives in Boston. She wants better schools, not more tests and punishments.

Here she reviews Reign of Error.

She writes that the crucial sentence in the book is this one:

The “nation’s children are on a train that is headed for a cliff“.

She is indignant because she thinks our nation’s children need so much more than tests, and our teachers need support and respect.

She is right.

And she is right to be indignant.

Do you want to join with fellow educators and parents in a virtual book study group?

United Opt Out is sponsoring an online book club, and the focus of its current discussion is “Reign of Error.”

In the past few years, I have become a strong supporter of the opt out movement.

Standardized testing is out of control. Children are losing valuable time that should be spent on instruction, on the arts, on physical education.

Billions are wasted to fatten the testing industry.

Other nations test students twice or three times over the course of their schooling, plus end-of-course exams. We are the only country that tests every child every year. And Finland doesn’t test at all, other than teacher-made tests. Teacher-made tests are best because teachers know what they taught, get instant feedback, and help kids learn what they don’t understand.

By contrast, using New York’s experience as a guide, the results come back months later, and teachers are not allowed to see the students’ answers, just their scores. In short, the tests have no diagnostic value and are used solely to rank teachers, even though research show this to be a misuse of testing.

Norm Scott is the quintessential education activist. He is a retired teacher with many years of classroom experience in tough schools. He brooks no nonsense.

In this review of Reign of Error, he asks the question: What is wrong with preaching to the choir?

He is right. When everyone else–the media, the pundits, the big foundations, the politicians–are agreed that the choir stinks, even though the choir is doing a fine job, the choir needs to hear some preaching. Some people think we can run schools well with novices who come and go every two years. They are wrong. Some people think that schools should be profit-making opportunities for canny entrepreneurs. They are wrong.

Norm knows: The choir needs some help. They need support. Nothing wrong with preaching to them when everyone is disparaging their work, especially when the critics can’t sing. Not even one note.

Nancy Flanagan has written a fine analysis of “Reign of Error.”

She says that this is a book for teachers, school leaders, and parents.

“For them, it’s a sourcebook of key issues, solid evidence and confirmation that yes, there’s been a media-fed, policy-driven, politically instigated sea change in public perspectives around education. Plus–there’s a template for the kinds of smart investment that could make our public education system sound and vigorous for decades. A rough guide to getting back on track, preserving America’s best idea: a free, high-quality public education for every child, rich or poor.”

Arthur Goldstein has taught in New York City public schools for almost thirty years. He has been trying to figure when and how teachers and public schools became objects of scorn rather than respect. He found it in “Reign of Error.”

He writes:

In Reign of Error, Ravitch demonstrates how, by ignoring poverty, America has managed to shift blame to public schools for its consequences. That’s clear when the Governor of New York declares schools with poor test scores deserve the “death penalty,” and the mayor of Chicago closes 50 schools in one fell swoop. The fact that all so-called failing schools have high percentages of high-needs kids is either attributed to coincidence or ignored completely. Standard practice is to replace them with privately run schools that generally perform either no better or much worse. Still, no one can argue they don’t place more tax money into the pockets of investors.

Reign of Error shows us corporate reform is largely about where the money goes. Americans are led to believe teachers earn too much, and entrepreneurs like Rupert Murdoch and the Walmart family earn too little. To correct this inequity, corporate reformers work to erase collective bargaining, unionism, teacher tenure, and other outrages that have left middle-class people able to make a living. This, of course, is all done in the name of helping children.