Raymond R. Isola and Jim Cummins analyze education reform initiatives during the past 60 years and explore difficult questions, including:

• Do standardized tests boost achievement?
• Does systematic phonics instruction increase reading comprehension?
• Is it reasonable to expect English learners to learn English in just 1 year?
• Is underachievement caused by bad teaching or by low socioeconomic status?

The authors argue that when policy ignores credible education research, there are consequences for vulnerable student populations, especially those from low-income and linguistically diverse communities.