Cuban is always great--and this is a marvelously level-headed and gripping account of a school reform process we know all too well, told with sympathy for everyone involved. Reminding us how uncertain our certainties often are, Cuban prods, provokes, and teaches.
   --Deborah Meier, author of Many Children Left Behind: How No Child Left Behind is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools

As Good As It Gets is a gem that only Larry Cuban could write. A personal, provocative rumination on Pat Forgione's decorated, decade-long tenure in Austin, it draws on both Cuban's "been-there" savvy and his scholarly acumen. With a title intended as a wry observation rather than a celebratory one, Cuban explores both what Austin has done right and why it has so far to go. Studded with smart observations regarding history, race, politics, leadership, and accountability, this is a book that will long echo with those seeking to reform American education.
   --Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute

Larry Cuban is Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University and past president of the American Educational Research Association.

Read More by Larry Cuban:

• Tinkering toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform
• Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom
• The Blackboard and the Bottom Line: Why Schools Can't Be Businesses