McMaster University American Schools in Crisis Reading Notes

I’m working on a cultural studies question and need guidance to help me learn.

Diane Ravitch in “American Schools in Crisis” is claiming that our schools are, in fact, not in crisis. She also is claiming that standardized testing/reforms are not working, and that bad teachers are not the problem. She provides evidence (facts, mostly historical) to support each claim.

So, once she proves to us that none of these common sense, taken-for-granted things are actually true, then she can get to her final claim, what she really wants to convince us of.

What is her final, ultimate claim about American schools and the causes of or fixes for the achievement gap? Use at least one quote from the text. Write a few sentences of your own summarizing more about how Ravitch supports this final claim. Connect this text with one concept from the presentation/PowerPoint/lecture. How does this text relate to our course and/or your final project?