Honoring Deborah W. Meier Hero of Education Recipient Diane Ravitch
Returning from New York, where FairTest honored Diane Ravitch with the Deborah W. Meier Hero of Education Award, I was slow to recognize the best thing about the trip. It could have been the amiable banter between Meier and Ravitch about their differing accounts of their transformation from being policy opponents to friends and, ultimately, allies. Or, the best part of the ceremony might have been Ravitch and Meier introducing their families and explaining how they are keeping the struggle alive.
In fact, a great observation by Deborah Meier grew out of her son's experience a generation ago. He was told that, unfortunately, "geology this year is not as good as last year." How does an academic discipline weaken in one year? Because of misguided changes in the Regents exam, teachers did not dare teach the class with the same excellence as before.
Meier also reminded us that in education today, the goal of testing research is finding the answer