Written by a parent and school board member, who first embraced many of the ideas of the modern school reform movement, Schoolhouse Shams lays bare much of the mythology and misinformation that underpin many of the failed school reform policies of the last decade. Many of the top strategies of the highly publicized school reform movement already have been tried out in St. Louis with disastrous results. Along with demonstrating the failure of school reform prescriptions to improve education, the experience of St. Louis demonstrates that the ideological premise of the reform movement, that a focus on providing opportunities for private profit-taking will necessarily improve schools, is both wrong and conflicts with the ideals of democracy, accountability, and justice.

"In Schoolhouse Shams: Myths and Misinformation in School Reform, author Peter Downs, a business writer and former school board president in St. Louis, Mo., takes aim at what he calls “simplistic, easy-to-implement solutions” to complex education problems. Downs vigorously tackles some of the most prevalent education myths, among them the notions that schools are not as good as they used to be due to desegregation; large-scale assessments are precise and standardized; public schools are wasteful and outsourcing will save money; and privatization and parental choice make schools better and cheaper. The book’s claims are grounded in his experiences with the St. Louis Public Schools, and he doesn’t shy away from pointing fingers. In a narrative that reads like an exposé, Downs identifies the powerful organizations, companies and individuals that enrich themselves by selling false stories to the public, turning education from a public good to a private product." - School Administrator

"Schoolhouse Shams by Peter Downs continues the exposure of corporate-led school reform by dissecting and systematically demolishing the top ten arguments — or shams — that these 'reformers' use to make their case, including the efficacy of high stakes testing, the focus on teaching reading skills, and the wastefulness of public versus privatized services. What's unique about Down's study is not so much the conclusions themselves, cogent as they are, but the way he gets there. . . .Particularly notable in this regard is Down's analysis of privatization of public services — both inside and outside of public education — from municipal trash pickup, to school building and grounds maintenance and food services, to publicly funded charter schools. . . .Downs also does a good job of demonstrating how, despite reformers' claims to the contrary, poor education could not have accounted for the growing white-Black income gap between 1970-2000, given that African Americans made substantial progress in closing the educational attainment gap over the same period." - Against the Current