WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Large urban school systems have been the weakest link in American education, driving middle-class families into the suburbs and contributing to a learning gap between the races.

By Anonymous SOCIETY THE SOURCE: "History's Struggle to Survive in the Schools" by Diane Ravitch, in OAH Magaxine of History, April 2007. IT'S EASY TO IMAGINE THAT American children in some golden period of the last century got a thorough grounding in history. They didn't.

By Anonymous SOCIETY Teachers' Unions Save the Day THE SOURCE: "Why Teacher Unions Are Good for Teachers and the Public" by Diane Ravitch, m American Educator, Winter 2006-07. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS ARE increasingly being required to function like corporate CEOs in a brutally competitive industry.

By DIANE RAVITCH The latest fad in American education is the small high school. Spurred on by grants of $1 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, dozens of cities are downsizing their high schools. It is time to step back and ask whether high schools can be too small to be effective.

By Diane Ravitch Washington Post The latest fad in American education is the small high school. Spurred on by grants of $1 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, dozens of cities are downsizing their high schools.