Speaking in front of the Education Writers Association, Secretary Betsy DeVos said that decades of reform efforts and increased social spending, both inside and outside of schools, "hasn't ultimately improved anything for any students, particularly not for the most vulnerable students." This seems to be a standard refrain from DeVos, and many other reformers as well, when making the case that past efforts have failed and it's time to try something different. In this white paper, the author digs into these claims, all in pursuit of determining whether America's schools have improved over the past quarter-century of reform. This requires looking not just at outcomes--test scores, graduation rates, college completion, and the like--but also at changing social conditions. The author finds that poor kids in America are doing much better than before, and that has served as a welcome tailwind for efforts to improve America's schools.