The Ravitch Switch: Searching for Answers to the Radical Transformation of Education Critic Diane Ravitch
Ever since her fierce polemic against the school reform movement, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” which came out last year, Diane Ravitch has become an ubiquitous voice in the raging education debate. It is not only because her writing is so cogent and ostensibly fact-driven, but also because her striking transformation—from one-time school reform champion, to sudden critic—that she has turned many heads.
The last heads to turn are those at The New Republic. In what amounts to a scathing take-down, the magazine tries to get to the bottom of Ravitch’s transformation. Officially, Ravitch says that her turn against school reform—in particular, more standardized tests and more charter schools—is driven by facts.
She points to a recent Stanford study, one of the most comprehensive ever done,