Heed experience of education expert Ravitch
Published: Sunday, February 12, 2012, 4:02 AM
Before endorsing Mayor Jackson's education plan, all taxpayers in the Cleveland School District should view a speech given at the Cleveland City Club on Feb. 3 by eminent education researcher Diane Ravitch.
Cleveland is considering adopting ideas that Ravitch herself was largely responsible for developing but later disavowed after seeing study after study over the last 20 years that found choice, testing and merit pay do not work. Charter schools designated as "high-performing" have advantages that others don't. A recent study of all Ohio charter schools shows that they do no better than regular public schools in language and do significantly worse in math. And many feed considerable profit from taxpayer money into their operators' pockets.
All the nostrums that Jackson wants the state legislature to impose on Cleveland have their roots in the idea that students are failing because teachers aren't working hard enough or well enough. But teachers account for only about 10 percent to 15 percent of student achievement, while the