Denise Gelberg has been a classroom teacher for twenty years and currently teaches in the Ithaca City School District, Ithaca, New York.

• List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction Part One: 1895-1925 1. The Tenor of the Times 2. The Pro-Efficiency Reforms Transplant Business Methods to the Schoolhouse 3. An Alternative Reform Agenda—Education for Individual Development and Democracy Part Two: 1961-1995 4. The 1960s and the Challenge to the Schools 5. A Renewed Sense of Crisis and a New Management Model Spur Education Reform, 1983-1995 6. The New Model for Efficient Education 7. Rochester, New York, a Laboratory for the New Pro-Efficiency Reforms 8. The Choices We Face Notes Selected Bibliography Index

"Unlike many studies that focus on only one strand of reform, Dr. Gelberg takes up the difficult challenge of comparing three reforms in different eras. The book clearly depicts the broader societal forces that shape reform ideas, documents the intellectual origins of the visions, and specifies the key proponents of each of the perspectives." — Ken Wong, University of Chicago"The author helps us understand how, once again, business not only drives education reform but also derails us from focusing on underlying social problems that correlate highly with poor school outcomes for children." — Marilyn Tallerico, Syracuse University