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Thursday, May 23, 2019

John Thompson: Holding Diane Ravitch and Corporate School Reformers Accountable - Living in Dialogue

Holding Diane Ravitch and Corporate School Reformers Accountable - Living in Dialogue

Holding Diane Ravitch and Corporate School Reformers Accountable
A Review of The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch: Part 1

By John Thompson.
As we wait for Diane Ravitch’s next, comprehensive masterpieceSlaying Goliath, a new anthology, The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch, offers a unique opportunity to assess the quality and accuracy of both Ravitch’s and the corporate school reformers’ analyses of school improvement. Of course, Ravitch’s experience in education research and politics gave her advantages in understanding policy complexities over the non-educators who imposed test-driven, accountability-driven policies on the nation’s schools. On the other hand, it was the edu-philanthropists’ untested opinions that became the laws of almost all of the states, so they should have been just as rigorous as Ravitch in studying the facts of life in our nation’s diverse schools.
Ravitch came to the school reform wars with a reputation as a thorough, balanced scholar, with close ties to conservative reformers. She had been an Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, and a member of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Board (NAEP), and worked with policy analysts with the Fordham Institute, the Brookings Institution, and other think tanks.  Ravitch also had a long career as an education historian.  In contrast to corporate reformers who demanded schools and systems where “everyone is on the same page,” Ravitch believed, “Historians understand that debate and dissent are part of the work of understanding history.”
Ravitch explained, “There is not one truth, but on the other hand, you can’t just make up facts and narratives, hire a fancy PR firm, and rewrite history to suit yourself.”   She said, “One of the things that a historian tries to do is to correct the record.” So, it is not surprising that an accountability audit of Ravitch’s positions during CONTINUE READING: Holding Diane Ravitch and Corporate School Reformers Accountable - Living in Dialogue