To start, I did not finish this book. I skimmed it and found interesting bits of information--but there was a lot of information.
Nothing was really new to me as I read it, I am a teacher and do see the value of adding this to shelves in advanced education classrooms. I also think that there are missing points of view and more questions that need to be answered. Clearly the authors tried to do a lot. Our we failing many of our students, yes--but not just the brightest ones. Also, defining "bright" becomes an issue, as does defining what the data is really telling us, really what do tests really say? Overall, this is a solid informational text to add to the educational narrative of the US, but there is more to explore and it is far from the only piece of the puzzle.