Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy by Domingo Morel tells the story of how state takeovers of urban school districts have tended to coincide with blacks gaining majorities on urban school boards. While the takeovers are based on poor academic performance and corruption, they don’t seem to improve academic results but they do take political power away from the local community. They also tend to result in a lack of collaboration, which is an essential contributor to school success in general. Although this book takes a political side in this argument, it does make a compelling case.

The Knowledge GAP: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System and How to Fix It by Natalie Wexler confronts the difference between content-rich and skills-based ELA curricula and makes a strong case for the former. She argues that students need a strong knowledge base in their long-term memories in order to comprehend complex text and to think critically. They also need systematic phonics instruction to learn how to decode words as they gain knowledge beyond their personal sphere. She sees a shift away from a focus on skills and leveled readers slowly taking place.