Nancy Flanagan Reviews “Reign of Error”
Nancy Flanagan has written a fine analysis of “Reign of Error.” She says that this is a book for teachers, school leaders, and parents. “For them, it’s a sourcebook of key issues, solid evidence and confirmation that yes, there’s been a media-fed, policy-driven, politically instigated sea change in public perspectives around education. Plus–there’s a template for the kinds of smart investment tha
Readers: What Happened to My “Education Nation” Post?
Readers, earlier today I posted an invitation that I received from NBC’s Education Nation. I was invited to sit in the audience. I wrote that I would decline because I was busy. I included in the post the long list of speakers and panelists. It included Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Indiana Governor Mike Pence; Indiana ex-Governor Mitch Daniels; Los Angele
New York City’s Leading Private Schools Drop Entry Test
For many years, young children applying to enter elite private schools in New York City had to take the ERB, which was supposed to be like an SAT for toddlers. Now these schools have decided to drop the ERB as an admission test because of the pervasiveness of test prep. According to a story in today’s New York Times: Next year, the test, commonly known as the E.R.B., is likely to be dropped as an
Income Inequality and School Reform
It is not often that you see a juxtaposition between these two concepts: income inequality and school reform. But I would like to argue here that they are related and they matter. In a recent column, Paul Krugman reviews the evidence about income inequality. The rich have grown dramatically richer, while the poor have gained nothing from the economic recovery. Here are the basic facts, as he descr
Arthur Goldstein: Beware the Middle of the Road!
Earlier this week, I was interviewed on NPR’s “On Point.” In the second part of the hour, the show brought on some young woman whose name I can’t remember. They said she used to work for Michelle Rhee and that she worked (or used to work) for Rhee’s TNTP (the New Teacher Project). I recall that her big complaint was that I failed to find common ground with corporate reformers. She said she had int
TO LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-20-13 Stephen Dyer on “Reign of Error” | Diane Ravitch's blog
Stephen Dyer on “Reign of Error” | Diane Ravitch's blog: Stephen Dyer on “Reign of Error”Stephen Dyer is a former legislator in Ohio who now works for a public policy organization called Innovation Ohio, in my book, I drew on some of his research. In this post, he situates my work in a longstanding American tradition. I especially liked these lines: “As I read the book, I couldn’t help but think o