Chapter 8 delves into the repeated promises for change and reform in America’s public schools.

Kozol begins by describing Higher Horizons, a program “to lift the levels of achievement for Black children” in New York City public schools during the 1960s. The program, which initially showed “gratifying achievements,” allocated extra money and instruction for enrolled children. At first, Higher Horizons spent $50 extra per child but then lowered that amount to $27. Reading comprehension went up, suspensions dropped, and student attendance improved. However, the lower cost of $27 per child was “too cheap,” and initial gains were quickly “watered down.” The improvements seen at the program’s start came “crashing to a halt” (189), and the program was shut down. A later study “found no measurable improvement in the academic achievement of participating children” (189). Over the years, there have been numerous “exciting-sounding strategies and projects for the transformation or the radical improvement of our nation’s inner-city schools” (191-92), but most turned out to be “dismal failures.” Furthermore, most fail to address “more than passingly the presence of apartheid demographics and severe inequity of funding in our public schools” (192-93).

Next, Kozol describes the “high set of expectations” that school principals and superintendents face.