Diane Ravitch gets it right - Lloyd Snow: Top 10 reasons Oklahoma public schools are in a fix | Tulsa World

Lloyd Snow: Top 10 reasons Oklahoma public schools are in a fix | Tulsa World:

Lloyd Snow: Top 10 reasons Oklahoma public schools are in a fix

By LLOYD SNOW

 I think Diane Ravitch gets it right in her latest book "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools." 

She says the only crisis in public education is the one ginned up by government bureaucrats, major foundations and an odd coalition of elitists and commercial hustlers who have made inflated claims about the virtues of vouchers, charter schools, virtual schools, standardized testing, merit pay, etc. 

They insist that poverty has no correlation to low academic achievement and that overhauling our entire system along business lines is the way to go. 

I feel like business/industry/philanthropist /politicians are trying to FIX us. Not like a car, like a cat! 

Friends, our public schools are like the Statue of Liberty. We take the tired, hungry, poor, huddled masses and we give them hope and opportunity. 

I wish folks who think they have to fix us would explain how so many of their "reforms" will help teachers teach and children learn. I deal with real teachers and kids. They are not numbers. 

Here are my top 10 reasons to be concerned about what getting fixed feels like in public education: 

No. 10: High stakes testing is out of control. It stifles entrepreneurship, creativity, curiosity and the American spirit. 

No. 9: Most of us have not had enough time to learn, tweak, embrace common core much less understand the high stakes implications for students and teachers. 

No. 8: Too many talented teachers are retiring too early for the wrong reasons: feeling undervalued