David Berliner

David Berliner is Regents’ Professor of Education Emeritus at Arizona State University. He has also taught at the Universities of Arizona and Massachusetts, at Teachers College and Stanford University, and at Universities in Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Switzerland. According to Berliner, there are three major problems plaguing our educational system: our traditional willingness to tolerate huge differences in funding for public schools (poorer neighborhoods still have poorer schools); the dilemmas created by our radically expanding educational system; and the fact that more disadvantaged children are entering our nation's schools.

Berliner is a member of the National Academy of Education, the International Academy of Education and a past president of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA). He is the winner of numerous awards, most notably the Brock award and the AERA award for distinguished contributions to education, the E. L. Thorndike award from the APA for lifetime achievements and the NEA “Friend of Education” award for his work on behalf of the education profession.

Berliner has authored more than 200 published articles, chapters and books. Among his best known works include the book co-authored with B. J. Biddle, The Manufactured Crisis, and the book co-authored with Sharon Nichols, Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts American Education. His most recent co-authored book is 50 Myths and Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools.

Using hard facts to expose and attack the myths of ailing test scores, excessive spending, unqualified teachers and immoral textbooks, Berliner identifies the problems that really do plague schools and offers real solutions. As he sees it, America has wasted time ignoring the real challenges of our diverse society, and now must pass the "ultimate test." "The ultimate test of society is not how well it takes care of its rich and powerful, but how well it attends to the needs of its poorest and weakest citizens." Dr. Berliner arms audiences with information needed to pass this test, if only our nation chooses to do its homework.