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My review? In a word: disappointing. I had hoped that Dr. Darling-Hammond would have dispelled the fog surrounding the current national debate on education reform. Instead she only perpetuates many of the same old false assumptions and romantic beliefs dominating policy analysis today - only this time re-packaging them in progressive vestments rather than in the typical "free market" three-piece suit. Here are a few observations. She spends the first part of the book trying to make the usual case about the dire state of student achievement in the United States. Like so many other recent reformers, she indicts public education relying largely on results from international assessments such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), but fails to provide the necessary interpretive cautions concerning the sampling and other methodological weaknesses of these assessments. The fact that many students in our country receive an outstanding public education is glossed over completely thus justifying the need for universal reform through a complete condemnation of the status quo. LDH avoids any discussion of cognitive ability and its connection to student achievement, further promoting the romantic fiction that all students can achieve the same performance standards within the same time frame. This omission ignores a critical reality which must be fully explored in the education reform debate - but is never even broached. The middle section of the book focuses on trying to learn lessons from other countries with reputedly higher student achievement. None of the relevant cautions about such comparisons are cited, while sweeping, unfounded generalizations carry the day. The approach reminds me of much educational research where authors freely discuss cause and effect based on even the slightest positive or negative correlations. The last third of the book discusses what should be done to fix public education. While there are some worthy targets for improvement, too many familiar hobby horses show up to confuse the discussion. For instance, LDH promotes small (secondary) schools enthusiastically, citing Diane Ravitch as a source. Of course, DR in her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, effectively shreds the argument for small schools. LDH's lengthy discussion of teacher quality has merit but takes many wrong turns and eventually ends up promoting a set of expensive ideas that will make little difference. And as long as I am mentioning resources, I might as well make sure that you understand that there is no discussion of how her admittedly expensive reform proposals might be funded. Even if her recommendations were spot on, the cost would be prohibitive, at least given the public taxation system in the United States as it is today. Her best contribution is in the discussion of opportunity to learn and the need to ensure that all students get access to a good basic education - though we differ somewhat on what constitutes a basic education, the engine of opportunity. Yes, there are inequities that need attention. And yes, there are teacher quality issues that need attention. And yes, students need to be appropriately challenged academically. And yes, students need to spend more time in school. But unfortunately this book does not offer much to inform our understanding of these issues or advance a realistic course of action. The fog still hangs heavy over the debate.