"Reign of Error:" Who Should Read It?
As facilitator of an online graduate course in teacher leadership, I strongly recommend that participants read lots of education policy blogs, across a range of political convictions. In the course syllabus, there are a dozen suggestions, but students--all practicing K-12 educators--are free to find and share others, posting their thoughts about the discourse they find.
The first discussion board question: Who is this blog for?
One teacher-participant compared a widely read policy blog to the "cool kids' table" in the school cafeteria: a place where other students are intentionally left behind, where the conversation often centers around a handful of people, clubs and shifting loyalties--who said what and how should we spin it?
Teachers often come away from their tour of Ed Policy World dismayed by the things policy "experts" are saying. Angry, sometimes. Frustrated at being left out of a dialogue where their hard-won practice expertise is undervalued, even scorned.
Good news. Diane Ravitch has written a book for them. While many of the early reviews ofReign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools came from the "cool kids," the audience that will find Reign of Error indispensible is 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 that could make our public education system sound and vigorous for decades. A rough guide to getting back on track, preserving America's best idea: a free, high-quality public education for every child, rich