In Schools for Sale, author Ernest House debunks the myth that economic productivity should shape educational policy and practice. House conclusively illustrates that the attempts by the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations to reshape the school to make "productive workers" ignore how schools work and students learn, and in the end are doomed to failure. Politically driven proposals for vouchers and privatization to increased calls for accountability and standards gain headlines and capture the attention of the public, but they routinely ignore the need to involve teachers and schools in the debate over the future of our schools.

;Based on his years of work as a professor of educational policy analysis, House develops an appraisal framework which evaluates reforms and enables readers to test the relative merits and viability of popular reform ideas. This book provides a signal service to politicians, policy makers, and the general public interested in creating a sustainable future for our nation's students and schools.