Historian Larry Cuban explains that the “current dogfight between reformers vs. anti-reformers” is unfair to both groups. Cuban notes that earlier generations of reformers both inside and outside districts were just as upset over “the lousy schooling that poor and minority children and youth were receiving” as today’s data-driven crowd. These members of the “status quo” adopted many reforms that are advocated by today’s accountability hawks “well before many in the current generation of reformers could vote.” He asserts that some in the two reform camps “collaborate on the sly.” Cuban says the first step in figuring out ways of helping teachers and students is, “turning down the noise, ending the barking at one another." Cuban also mentions Steve Brill's accounts of divisions within the reform camp. I can not tell if Cuban agrees, but here is Brill's
