Diane Ravitch (2000)
For the past one hundred years, Americans have argued and worried about the quality of their schools. Some have charged that students were not learning enough, while others have complained that the schools were not in the forefront of social progress. In this authoritative history of education in the twentieth century, historian Diane Ravitch describes this ongoing battle of ideas and explains why school reform has so often failed. “Left Back” recounts grandiose efforts by education reformers to use the schools to promote social and political goals, even when they diminished the schools’ ability to educate children.” See the author interviewed about Left Back on C-Span.
http://www.amazon.com/Left-Back-Century-Failed-Reforms/dp/0684844176