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Reign of Error
- The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
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Publisher's summary
Diane Ravitch, America's foremost historian of education, says that public education in the United States is one of the pillars of our democratic society. In this eloquent book, she explains that our public schools have been wrongly criticized for low achievement, when federal data show that test scores and graduation rates are at their highest point in history - for black students, Hispanic students, white students, and Asian students - and dropout rates are at their lowest point in history.
But for 30 years and even longer, critics have wrongly claimed that the public schools are failing, and this mistaken narrative has set the stage for harmful, even disastrous federal legislation and programs.
George W. Bush's No Child Left behind law was passed with bipartisan support, allowing the federal government to impose testing on every child in every school. This is a practice unknown in other nations in the world. NCLB set impossible goals - that 100% of children would be proficient by the year 2014 - and many beloved public schools have been closed because they could not do the impossible.
This powerful book challenges a stale and failed status quo. It will give you fresh and important insights about the future of public education and the future of our society.
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The Global Achievement Gap
- Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills our Children Need - and What We Can Do About it
- By: Tony Wagner
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Education expert Tony Wagner situates our school problems in the context of the global knowledge economy and analyzes the skills necessary for our young people to succeed.
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made obsolete by 'MostLikelyToSucceed'-still great
- By MichaelS on 04-01-16
By: Tony Wagner
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Class Warfare
- Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools
- By: Steven Brill
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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In a reporting tour de force, award-winning journalist Steven Brill takes an uncompromising look at the adults who are fighting over America’s failure to educate its children and points the way to reversing that failure. Brill not only takes us inside their roller-coaster battles, he also concludes with a surprising prescription for what it will take from both sides to put the American dream back in America’s schools.
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Unions are Evil
- By Elton on 09-16-11
By: Steven Brill
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Engine of Impact
- Essentials of Strategic Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector
- By: William F. Meehan III, Kim Starkey Jonker
- Narrated by: C. J. Lengua
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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We are entering a new era - an era of impact. The largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history will soon be underway, bringing with it the potential for huge increases in philanthropic funding. Engine of Impact shows how nonprofits can apply the principles of strategic leadership to attract greater financial support and leverage that funding to maximum effect.
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Must listen for all nonprofit leaders
- By Peter A. Mello on 02-09-19
By: William F. Meehan III, and others
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The Nordic Theory of Everything
- In Search of a Better Life
- By: Anu Partanen
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life - from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare - was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension.
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A non-radical perspective on two societies
- By kwdayboise (Kim Day) on 06-20-17
By: Anu Partanen
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The Case Against Education
- Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money
- By: Bryan Caplan
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Despite being immensely popular - and immensely lucrative - education is grossly overrated. In this explosive book, Bryan Caplan argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skill but to certify their intelligence, work ethic, and conformity - in other words, to signal the qualities of a good employee.
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Finally, someone says what needs to be said about education
- By Brandon B. on 05-17-18
By: Bryan Caplan
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Know Your Price
- Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities
- By: Andre M. Perry
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The deliberate devaluation of Blacks and their communities has had very real, far-reaching, and negative economic and social effects. An enduring white supremacist myth claims brutal conditions in Black communities are mainly the result of Black people's collective choices and moral failings. But there is nothing wrong with Black people that ending racism can't solve. Noted educator, journalist, and scholar Andre Perry takes listeners on a tour of six Black-majority cities whose assets and strengths are undervalued.
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More about Black lives than property
- By J. Craig on 04-13-22
By: Andre M. Perry
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What Works
- Gender Equality by Design
- By: Iris Bohnet
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. Diversity training programs have had limited success, and individual effort alone often invites backlash. Behavioral design offers a new solution. By de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts.
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Excellent book every women and executive should read
- By N LI on 05-10-21
By: Iris Bohnet
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The Prize
- Who's in Charge of America's Schools?
- By: Dale Russakoff
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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When Mark Zuckerberg announced in front of a cheering Oprah audience his $100 million pledge to transform the Newark Schools - and to solve the education crisis in every city in America - it looked like a huge win for then-mayor Cory Booker and governor Chris Christie. But their plans soon ran into a constituency not so easily moved - Newark's key education players, fiercely protective of their billion-dollar-per-annum system.
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Well-researched - Provides Good Answers
- By Denyse on 01-11-16
By: Dale Russakoff
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Ghetto
- The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea
- By: Mitchell Duneier
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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On March 29, 1516, the city council of Venice issued a decree forcing Jews to live in il geto - a closed quarter named for the copper foundry that once occupied the area. The term stuck. In this sweeping and original interpretation, Mitchell Duneier traces the idea of the ghetto from its beginnings in the 16th century and its revival by the Nazis to the present. As Duneier shows, we cannot understand the entanglements of race, poverty, and place in America today without recalling the history of the ghetto in Europe, as well as later efforts to understand the problems of the American city.
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Impressive
- By Jean on 12-10-16
By: Mitchell Duneier
What listeners say about Reign of Error
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Greyson
- 11-03-21
Chapters don’t align
Chapters don’t align with the text based chapters. If needed for class note that you will not be able to follow along.
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- Brian Burke
- 05-23-16
Insightful, thoughtful, pertinent
This is the best book on the educational reform movement. An intelligent analysis of what's facing our public schools and how to save them.
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- Robert
- 05-15-15
Persuasive critique of school reform movement
Would you listen to Reign of Error again? Why?
This book contains a very good point-by-point critique and refutation of the arguments in favor of the school privatization reforms currently being enacted throughout the country. I probably would not listen to the entire book again, but will likely refer to it from time to time. This is where listening to an entire book and then having a printed copy for reference is helpful.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The book doesn't really have characters. To the extent that it talks about individuals, it focuses on the ways that "reformers'" backgrounds, early experiences, and current commitments may have biased them against critically examining their own motivations and the evidence regarding the reforms they advocate. However, the book mostly examines arguments and evidence, rather than individuals.
What three words best describe Eliza Foss’s performance?
I found the narration a bit problematic. Part-way through the book I realized that my unease with Foss's style was that she sounds very much like the voiceovers in negative political campaign advertisements--the ones that are intended to make us view the target of the ad with worry, fear or disdain. In the context of this book, that style seemed overblown and manipulative--and I found it grating after a while. I think that a more neutral tone would have been more persuasive.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I suppose the book tended to confirm my biases. However, I think that, by the end the thinness of the evidence that supports reform was quite stunning.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Paula Stephens
- 01-15-21
Wow!
A must read for every public school educator! It's amazing how money moves the world.
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- Dwayne
- 01-27-17
The truth about education in America
What did you love best about Reign of Error?
The author convincingly argues that poverty and socioeconomic inequality are the real, and unaddressed, problems with education in the United States.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
The narration was the only negative to this audiobook. I had both the kindle and audible version to use whispersync. I did not care for the narrator reading contractions where one did not exist. For example, where the author wrote "did not," the narrator routinely read "didn't." I would prefer the narrator read the words exactly as the author wrote them.
Any additional comments?
The author's argument is spot on.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AudioReader
- 02-20-16
Sound Assessment of the Hijacking of Public Educat
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes. I would and will absolutely recommend this book to Colleges that offer education degrees; to superintendents of school districts, to teachers and teachers' unions, to PTA chapters, to politicians, to candidates to public office, and to concerned citizens.
What other book might you compare Reign of Error to and why?
I compare it to books that inform the reader with substantive facts and with intellectual stimulating analyses, no matter what the book is about. "Confessions of a Bad Teacher", "The Sociopath Next Door" are two examples.
Which scene was your favorite?
Everything chapter, every piece of information was relevant and helped make the case to the thesis of the book.
Any additional comments?
A must read.
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- Balu
- 03-02-15
A must read for educators and reformers.
Excellent analysis of the American public school system. a must read for education policy makers.
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- Lindsay Y
- 01-26-14
Speaker's tone
Where does Reign of Error rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I like what the author had to say.
What did you like best about this story?
The author's story.
Did Eliza Foss do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
I felt that she was too biased. She did not allow the reader to make their own assumptions. Instead she used voice inflection and tone to demonstrate how the reader should be interpreting the story.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ray
- 08-21-15
SAVE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
I totally agree with the basic arguments made by the author. That our public schools are performing much better than we are led to believe, That test scores are not a good measure of success. That privatization is merely for profit and not for the students. That schools can't be judged by a market sector business model.
The book is very well researched, but there is much repetition of the points made, It will take a real effort for most listeners to get through the book. Still public education is so important to democracy that it is worth the effort,
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2 people found this helpful
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- Shawn Fitzgibbons
- 11-04-18
excellent book! very well written!!
I really enjoyed the audio presentation, but now I want to copy for my bookshelf. excellent book. I would recommend it for anyone interested in education of the American citizen.
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