Check out Arizona State's Education Policy Research Unit, where you will find a variety of sources in pdf. format that provide context and solid data on the current education reform disorder. This page has some great work, Berliner's Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform, and a nice piece
On a further page, you can find research, The Impact of the Adequate Yearly Progress Requirement of the Federal "No Child Left Behind" Act on Schools in the Great Lakes Region, and commentary on corporate welfare charters and investigative pieces such as Bracey's No Child Left Behind: Where Does the Money Go?
Be ready, be informed, be reality based.