The Affluent, Failing, Public School: Does It Really Exist?

It is impossible to open up a magazine, click on a website, or listen to talk radio without hearing about the issue of education reform. As citizens, it frightens us to hear that out the Chinese are overtaking our place as top test takers, or that the state of public schools is so dismal that only a superhero can save it.

How much of this talk is accurate? How much is just a faulty interpretation of facts which then get repeated ad nauseum?

One of the major stories we are hearing here in California (and across the nation) is the issue of teacher quality, and how some say it is the number one determinant in student academic outcomes.