"We are in the midst of a full-scale attack on our nation's commitment to public education. From funding, to vouchers, to charter schools, public education policy has become a political football, rather than a means of fulfilling the most basic obligation of government to its citizens. As Derek W. Black vividly illustrates, this assault threatens not just public education, but democracy itself. Black offers both an illuminating history of our nation's...

"Every year millions of students take Advanced Placement exams hoping to score enough points to earn college credit and save on their tuition bill. But are they getting a real college education? This book shows how the AP program originally aimed to replicate the liberal arts experience for bright students, but over time became a testing behemoth and marker of student status"-- "How the College Board's emphasis on standardized testing has led the...

"An on-the-ground look at the rise of parent activism in response to the far-right attacks on public school education"--

"Standing on the foundations of America's promise of equal opportunity, our universities purport to "serve as engines of social mobility" and "practitioners of democracy." But as acclaimed scholar and pioneering civil rights advocate Lani Guinier argues, the merit systems that dictate the admissions practices of these institutions are functioning to select and privilege elite individuals rather than create learning communities geared to advance democratic...