diane ravitch Archive

  • Excerpts from this article:  …We have had a full decade of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that the law has been a disaster. …Now we know the results of this absurd law. More than 80% of our schools have been labeled failing schools. By the year 2014, nearly 100% of our schools will be considered failures. Has any other national legislature in history ever passed a law guaranteed to label every single one of its schools a failure? I don’t know of any.  …Let’s be clear about what NCLB has really accomplished: It has convinced the media and major philanthropies and Wall Street hedge fund managers that American public education is a failure and that radical solutions are required.  …We have now had ten years of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that there has...

    Diane Ravitch Knows How to Improve Public Education

    Posted on December 12, 2011 | 1 Comment
    Excerpts from this article:  …We have had a full decade of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that the law has been a disaster. …Now we know the results of this absurd law. More than 80% of our schools have been labeled failing schools. By the year 2014, nearly 100% of our schools will be considered failures. Has any other national legislature in history ever passed a law guaranteed to label every single one of its schools a failure? I don’t know of any.  …Let’s be clear about what NCLB has really accomplished: It has convinced the media and major philanthropies and Wall Street hedge fund managers that American public education is a failure and that radical solutions are required.  …We have now had ten years of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that there has...

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  • Federal Relations Network Of the Washington State School Directors Association 2011 Participation Washington DC, February 5-9 Kathy White Kennewick School Director, Position 3 I arrived in Washington DC on Saturday, February 5, 2011. The first event was orientation on Sunday morning for first time participants, that’s me! We were given a brief overview of this year’s legislative agenda and spent more time on how to influence your senators and representatives. Different role plays were shown and the most effective techniques were emphasized.

    Kathy White Reports on WSSDA Trip to DC

    Posted on April 18, 2011 | 1 Comment
    Federal Relations Network Of the Washington State School Directors Association 2011 Participation Washington DC, February 5-9 Kathy White Kennewick School Director, Position 3 I arrived in Washington DC on Saturday, February 5, 2011. The first event was orientation on Sunday morning for first time participants, that’s me! We were given a brief overview of this year’s legislative agenda and spent more time on how to influence your senators and representatives. Different role plays were shown and the most effective techniques were emphasized.

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  • Bill Gates spoke to the Council of Chief State School Officers on November 19. You can find his remarks here. Although the site appears to be editing the comments and striking those that are most critical, we have saved a few for your viewing: Samantha Marie This one drove me nuts too: “We know today that the single most decisive factor in student achievement is excellent teaching. It’s amazing how effective the great teachers are. We should be making the most of their skill. But we don’t. ” That SHOULD read the factor within school. There are other unmeasurable factors that effect a student’s achievement outside of school, but those factors can not be controled for, so let’s focus on the teachers. There was one point where I did agree, almost. Yes we aren’t making the most of their (the...

    Comments on Recent Bill Gates Speech

    Posted on December 11, 2010 | 1 Comment
    Bill Gates spoke to the Council of Chief State School Officers on November 19. You can find his remarks here. Although the site appears to be editing the comments and striking those that are most critical, we have saved a few for your viewing: Samantha Marie This one drove me nuts too: “We know today that the single most decisive factor in student achievement is excellent teaching. It’s amazing how effective the great teachers are. We should be making the most of their skill. But we don’t. ” That SHOULD read the factor within school. There are other unmeasurable factors that effect a student’s achievement outside of school, but those factors can not be controled for, so let’s focus on the teachers. There was one point where I did agree, almost. Yes we aren’t making the most of their (the...

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  • If you are a regular reader of ksdcitizens.org or even a first timer, this letter from Diane Ravitch is directed to you.  Here at ksdcitizens.org we believe it is time to push back HARD against the Federal and corporate takeover of our local public schools and the life-sucking regime of test-after-test.  If you are of like mind, Diane has some suggestions for getting started. Read Take Action Now

    A Letter to YOU from Diane Ravitch

    Posted on November 1, 2010 | 1 Comment
    If you are a regular reader of ksdcitizens.org or even a first timer, this letter from Diane Ravitch is directed to you.  Here at ksdcitizens.org we believe it is time to push back HARD against the Federal and corporate takeover of our local public schools and the life-sucking regime of test-after-test.  If you are of like mind, Diane has some suggestions for getting started. Read Take Action Now

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  • Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch are two of our favorite education writers and activists so we were pleased to receive the following from Monty Neill: Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch share the invaluable blog, Bridging Differences (see Diane’s most recent post supporting the valuable report from 10 national civil rights groups calling on Obama-Duncan to change course in their education efforts: Click here to see Bridging Differences . Deb also has her own blog: Click here. The Sept column traces back test score misuse, inflation and political gamesmanship going back to 1981. She reminds us that the state test scores in NYC are now what they were when Bloomberg took office – the conformatory evidence of which only came out (natch) after he won re-election, tho many knowledgeable observers already knew this. As NAEP tells us, like the nation as...

    Deborah Meier and Dianne Ravitch Blogs

    Posted on September 14, 2010 | 2 Comments
    Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch are two of our favorite education writers and activists so we were pleased to receive the following from Monty Neill: Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch share the invaluable blog, Bridging Differences (see Diane’s most recent post supporting the valuable report from 10 national civil rights groups calling on Obama-Duncan to change course in their education efforts: Click here to see Bridging Differences . Deb also has her own blog: Click here. The Sept column traces back test score misuse, inflation and political gamesmanship going back to 1981. She reminds us that the state test scores in NYC are now what they were when Bloomberg took office – the conformatory evidence of which only came out (natch) after he won re-election, tho many knowledgeable observers already knew this. As NAEP tells us, like the nation as...

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  • The Washington Post continues to give space to Dianne Ravitch and her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

    Ravitch to Obama: “Change Course Before it is too Late”

    Posted on June 22, 2010 | No Comments
    The Washington Post continues to give space to Dianne Ravitch and her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

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  • REVIEW Throughout the history of public education in the U.S. there have been periods of dissatisfaction with the schools and countless remedies have been suggested to “save the schools.”  The current cycle of reform began in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk, a national report that attempted to tie our place in the global economy to the role of the public schools.  The report stated “the nation’s global preeminence in science, technology, industry, commerce, and military defense is threatened by its mediocre education.”  Notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. economy has lead the world nearly every year since 1983, a never-ending onslaught has been faced by teachers and school officials to make over the schools in the image of business as a means to saving our way of life.

    The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

    Posted on May 1, 2010 | No Comments
    REVIEW Throughout the history of public education in the U.S. there have been periods of dissatisfaction with the schools and countless remedies have been suggested to “save the schools.”  The current cycle of reform began in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk, a national report that attempted to tie our place in the global economy to the role of the public schools.  The report stated “the nation’s global preeminence in science, technology, industry, commerce, and military defense is threatened by its mediocre education.”  Notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. economy has lead the world nearly every year since 1983, a never-ending onslaught has been faced by teachers and school officials to make over the schools in the image of business as a means to saving our way of life.

    Continue Reading...