"We’re lying to our kids," says professor and Nation author Diane Ravitch. Ravitch, a former charter school advocate and No Child Left Behind supporter, now says that high-stakes testing and punishing teachers for low-scoring kids is failing, according to her research; moreover, charter schools are only successful, when they are, because they can select the best students from the failing districts in which they are located.

In a new piece at The Nation, and in her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, Ravitch lays out the case against the policies she once supported. She tells The Nation on Grit TV that Obama and Arne Duncan might be making our education problems worse, not better.

The Nation on GRIT TV is a weekly video collaboration between The Nation and GRIT TV with Laura Flanders. Watch for Monday briefings, Wednesday commentaries, weekend conversations and more at TheNation.com. For full half-hour episodes of The Nation on GRIT TV, or local television air times visit www.grittv.org.