Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, April 2023, 196 pages, ISBN 9781475869941
With scholarly precision, Phelps details the collection of actors that have driven and continue to propel U.S. education policy and preferred narratives. In doing so, he has laid out a web of collusion of an inter-connected “echo chamber” or, “mutual admiration society,” composed of education “non-profits,” various repetitively used sources, and education research “think tanks,” as well as funding sources for those policies and narratives that often lead back to just a handful of foundations, namely the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Phelps also draws a clear line between those funding sources and journalists, as well as the education reporting outlets they represent which promulgate the education fad du jour pushed by the aforementioned think tanks. This book is a must-read for anyone taking education reporting at face value – especially policymakers and elected officials.
– A.P. Dillon, Education Reporter, North State Journal.
