If all humor does indeed come from pain, then American educational policymaking has been a petri dish brimming with hilarity. Even before Betsy DeVos ascended to her perch atop the U.S. Department of Education, her predecessors had offered up an excruciating decade of fodder for satire. Ably assisted by a bevy of billionaires, foundations, and advocacy think tanks, these policymakers unleashed a torrent of rhetorical gibberish and evidence-free "innovations" on the nation's children and their schools. Potential Grizzlies: Making the Nonsense Bearable is one researcher's attempt to laugh instead of cry. The book will bring back memories of policymakers from more innocent times, from Michelle Rhee to Arne Duncan to Chris Christie. Sit back and relax with fond thoughts of your favorite policies, from testing to school choice to "parent trigger." Or maybe just smile and imagine a day when policymakers turn to research evidence and knowledgeable educators to build a sound future for our children.

Because everyone from policymakers to classroom teachers has a role in achieving greater equity for children from poverty, this book provides a sweeping chronicle of the historical turning points-judicial, legislative, and regulatory-on the road to greater equity, as background to the situation today. It provides succinct policy recommendations for states and districts, as well as practical curricular and instructional strategies for districts, schools, and teachers. This comprehensive approach-from the statehouse to the classroom-for providing children who come to school from impoverished environments with the education in which they thrive, not merely one that is comparable to others, truly enlists everyone in the quest for opportunity and performance. The next step toward equity may be taken by a governor, but it may also be taken by a teacher. One need not wait for the other.