Part one: The way we teach now : all you need is skills. The water they've been swimming in ; A problem hiding in plain sight ; Everything was surprising and novel ; The reading wars ; Unbalanced literacy ; Billions for education reform, but barely a cent for knowledge

Part two: How we got there : the history behind the content-free curriculum. Émile meets the common core ; Politics and the quest for content

Part three: How we can change : creating and delivering content-focused curriculum. The Common Core : new life for knowledge, or another nail in its coffin? ; No more jackpot standards ; Don't forget to write ; Scaling up : can it be done?

Epilogue