. >> host: and now joining us on booktv is vicki alger. her book, "failure: the federal miseducation of america's children," came out in 2016. ms. alger, is it any better today than it was in 2016 when you wrote your book, in your view? >> guest: sadly, no. test scores haven't gone up. we have slipped in the international rankings a bit. common core's been fully entrenched, and we didn't see the improvements, and we saw some losses. so, no, things aren't getting better. but there is, on the positive side, what we are seeing is advances in the states in present bal choice programs -- parental choice programs which empower parents over their children's education and restore that critical local control. so that's silver lining here. >> host: have we seen any changes in the federal department of education? >> guest: actually, we have, and some of the moves have been pretty controversial. for example, streamlining a lot of employees. most recently president trump unveiled a plan to the combine the department of education with the d. of lay are

. >> host: and now joining us on booktv is vicki alger. her book, "failure: the federal miseducation of america's