Ravitch: When reformers reject data they don’t like
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This was written by education historian Diane Ravitch for her Bridging Differences blog, which she co-authors with Deborah Meier on the Education Week website. Ravitch and Meier exchange letters about what matters most in education. Ravitch, a research professor at New York University, is the author of the bestselling “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” an important critique of the flaws in the modern school reform movement.
Dear Deborah,
One of the most interesting books I have read in recent months is Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions .” I was particularly interested in Chapter 5, where he explains the difference between social norms—where people act because they