Bloomberg to the World: Send Us Your Billionaires
Mayor Bloomberg responded to the latest reports about rising poverty in New York City with a plea for more billionaires to move to the city. Presumably that would create new jobs for chauffeurs, maids, gardeners, personal chefs, butlers, and others to serve the needs of the powerful and wealthy. They might even endow some more of the charter schools that are on the drawing boards in the waning day
A Candid Interview With the Pittsburgh City Paper
Chris Potter of the Pittsburgh City Paper interviewed me when I was in town. I liked him, and we got along very well. He got me talking, the sign of a good reporter.
The Indignant Teacher Reviews “Reign of Error”
The Indignant Teacher is passionate about education. She lives in Boston. She wants better schools, not more tests and punishments. Here she reviews Reign of Error. She writes that the crucial sentence in the book is this one: The “nation’s children are on a train that is headed for a cliff“. She is indignant because she thinks our nation’s children need so much more than tests, and our teachers n
Connecticut Teacher: Standards Should Be Written by Excellent Teachers
Ann Policelli Cronin, an experienced teacher in Connecticut, says that the Common Core should be considered a first draft. Here are her comments: The Common Core State Standards: A First Draft Much of what is written about the Common Care State Standards is based on a faulty premise about their quality. For example, on August 18, 2013 in The New York Times, Bill Keller wrote that the Common Core S
United Opt Out Leads Virtual Book Discussion of “Reign of Error”
Do you want to join with fellow educators and parents in a virtual book study group? United Opt Out is sponsoring an online book club, and the focus of its current discussion is “Reign of Error.” In the past few years, I have become a strong supporter of the opt out movement. Standardized testing is out of control. Children are losing valuable time that should be spent on instruction, on the art
Will You Help This Film Maker Tell the Story about What Is Happening to Our Kids?
Please do some crowd sourcing or crowd fundraising to help a young documentarian finish her film about the current assault on public education via standardization and misuse of testing. Her name is Shannon Puckett. She interviewed me in San Diego when I spoke to NSBA. When she was done, she gave me a T-shirt that read: “The revolution will not be standardized.”
Deconstructing the “Reform” Narrative: Part 3
This is the third in the series of comments on the “reform” narrative by a reader who calls himself or herself “Democracy.” Here Democracy explains the “reform that reformers don’t want.” Part 3: Hanushek, and people who cite him, say that American economic competitiveness is dependent on school “reform.” Hanushek cites economist Robert Lucas to bolster his contention. Lucas is the prototypical fr
Deconstructing the “Reform” Narrative: Part 2
A reader who calls himself or herself “Democracy” sent in a three-part commentary, posted a couple weeks back in the Comments. This is part 2. “Democracy” writes: There’s no nuance, or explanation, in Lawrence’s piece. None whatsoever. She says nothing about the pernicious effects of poverty, which affect (primarily) minority students ins the U.S. She states simply that “These shortcomings take th
Norm Scott Reviews “Reign of Error”
Norm Scott is the quintessential education activist. He is a retired teacher with many years of classroom experience in tough schools. He brooks no nonsense. In this review of Reign of Error, he asks the question: What is wrong with preaching to the choir? He is right. When everyone else–the media, the pundits, the big foundations, the politicians–are agreed that the choir stinks, even though the
Democracy: Deconstructing the “Reformer” Narrative
A reader who calls himself or herself has written an interesting series of comments on the current attacks on public education and their sources. Here is Part 1: Robert Samuelson’s column is a prime example of poor-quality economics reporting. I wrote previously on this blog about about the sorry state of education reporting in the U.S. See: http://dianeravitch.net/2013/08/31/david-coleman-the-m
Diane in the Evening 9-20-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Income Inequality and School ReformIt 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
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 9-21-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2
Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGDeconstructing the “Reform” Narrative: Part 2A reader who calls himself or herself “Democracy” sent in a three-part commentary, posted a couple weeks back in the Comments. This is part 2. “Democracy” writes: There’s no nuance, or explanation, in Lawrence’s piece. None whatsoever. She says nothing about the pernicious effe