Renowned scholar Diane Ravitch takes on public education 'reformers'
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BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
If the growing groundswell against the country’s so-called “education reformers” has a philosophical leader, it is Dr. Diane Ravitch, a gray-haired, soft-spoken and mightily armed education historian and author.
Earlier this week in New Brunswick, Ravitch — now research professor of education at NYU and author most recently of "The Death and Life of the Great American School System" — brought her audience to its feet more than once as she quietly, but with deadly force, demolished the cause and case of “education reform” in America.
In Thursday's annual “Education Justice Lecture” jointly sponsored by the Education Law Center and the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University, Ravitch spoke on “What Is School Reform?”. Questions from a panel and audience members followed.
In discussing the state of public education today — attacked and demonized by ”reformers” — Ravitch assured that virtually no issue was left behind: student testing and teacher evaluation, charter schools, merit pay, teacher tenure