Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools - Diane Ravitch

Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools by Ravitch, Diane (Sep 17, 2013)    

"From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, “whistle-blower extraordinaire” (The Wall Street Journal), author of the best-selling The Death and Life of the Great American School System (“Important and riveting”—Library Journal), 

The Language Police (“Impassioned . . . Fiercely argued . . . Every bit as alarming as it is illuminating”—The New York Times), and other notable books on education history and policy—an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diane Ravitch Biography

Diane Ravitch

I was born in Houston, Texas, in 1938. I am third of eight children. I attended the public schools in Houston from kindergarten through high school (San Jacinto High School, 1956, yay!). I then went to Wellesley College, where I graduated in 1960.

Within weeks after graduation from Wellesley, I married. The early years of my marriage were devoted to raising my children. I had three sons: Joseph, Steven, and Michael. Steven died of leukemia in 1966. I now have four grandsons, Nico, Aidan, Elijah, and Asher.

I began working on my first book in the late 1960s. I also began graduate studies at Columbia University. My mentor was Lawrence A. Cremin, a great historian of education. The resulting book was a history of the New York City public schools, called "The Great School Wars," published in 1974. I received my Ph.D. in the history of American education in 1975. In 1977, I wrote "The Revisionists Revised." In 1983 came "The Troubled Crusade." In 1985, "The Schools We Deserve." In 1987, with my friend Checker Finn, "What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know?" In 1991, "The American Reader." In 1995, "National Standards in American Education." In 2000, "Left Back." In 2003, "The Language Police." In 2006, "The English Reader," with my son Michael Ravitch. Also in 2006, "Edspeak." I have also edited several books with Joseph Viteritti.

My last book, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education," was a national bestseller. It addressed the most important education issues of our time. It was read by teachers, parents, and students and was a source of great joy to me.

My newest book "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools" is a call to arms. It documents the false narrative that has been used to attack American public education, and names names. It also contains specific and evidence-based recommendations about how we can improve our schools and our society.

To follow my ongoing work read my blog at dianeravitch.net, where there is a lively conversation among educators and parents about the future of education.

Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch at NSBA conference: Public schools facing ‘unprecedented assault’

"Public education is under attack. Local school boards are under attack. Local governance is under attack.

That was the blunt message delivered by Diane Ravitch at the closing General Session of National School Board's Association (NSBA) annual conference in San Diego.

A nationally recognized education researcher and author,Ravitch has become a fierce critic of many of the education reform models that, in the past decade, have been advocated by misguided state and federal policymakers, as well by wealthy ideologues. And she shared her criticisms and concerns with conference attendees. 

Diane Ravitch at National School Boards Association

“What I’m going to try to do today,’ she said, “is arm you with the facts you need to help you defend your public schools from an unprecedented assault.”

The repeated attacks on public education today—and the so-called reform proposals being touted as solutions—are both inaccurate and deceptive, Ravitch argued.

“These people who call themselves reformers, who say our public education system is obsolete, that it’s failing, that it’s broken … they’re wrong,” she said. “Our schools are not failing. Our system of public education is not broken.’

“Let me tell you what’s the problem—our federal education policy is broken,” she added. “Federal education policy is hurting our public schools. Federal education policy has abandoned the historic principles of federalism and is imposing mandates that are bad for children.”

The truth about public education and many of today’s reform ideas will be laid out in her upcoming book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of Privatization and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, she said.

The truth, she said, is something you don’t see on the evening news or in the daily newspapers. In reality, test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are the highest in history. High school graduation rates are the highest in history. The nation’s dropout rates are the lowest in history."

CLICK HERE

NSBA

Texas Observer forum on education reform movement LBJ School of Public Affairs - University of Texas

As a follow-up to the "Save Texas Schools" rally in Austin, Texas on Saturday, February 23, 2013, the Texas Observer sponsored a public forum at the University of Texas.

Texas Observer Forum 

LBJ School of Public Affairs

Bass Lecture Hall - University of Texas

3:00-5:00 P.M. 

Saturday, February 23, 2013 

 

Diane Ravitch -  Keynote

  

• Julian Vasquez Helig - University of Texas
• Jane Lincove - University of Texas Education Policy Researcher
• Michael Soto - Trinity University Professor and former member - State Board of Education
• Carla Ranger - District 6 Trustee - Dallas ISD
• Patrick Michels - Texas Observer staff writer - Moderator

This in-depth panel discussion considered how the national school reform movement has taken root in Texas, and the challenges facing public school advocates in Texas cities.

It was an interesting discussion by people who have much knowledge and information on education reform developments throughout America and Texas.

I enjoyed participating on the panel.

Save Texas Schools Rally held in Austin, Texas

The 'Save Texas Schools" Rally was held on the steps of the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, Saturday, February 23, 2013. It was a good day, and supporters of Texas public education gathered again to call for legislative support of public schools.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott speaks at the "Save Texas Schools" Rally

Robert Scott said, “I had to turn in my reformer card because I looked at it as a flea circus. They are selling two ideas and two ideas only: No. 1, your schools are failing, and No. 2, if you give us billions of dollars, we can convince you [of] the first thing we just told you.”

Former Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott

Diane Ravitch  speaks at the "Save Texas Schools" Rally

Diane Ravitch said, “The testing vampire started here,” meaning NCLB. “Kill it.” ... "You have heard that our public schools are failing. It is not true."

 
Diane Ravitch Blog - Click Here

Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III of Dallas speaks at "Save Texas Schools" Rally - "Education Not Incarceration."


Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III of Dallas

Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III, Senior Pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas

Citizens gathered to "Save Texas Schools."

 

State Senator Kirk Watson
“When our kids make a mistake, we expect them to fix it. When our kids have an assignment to do, we don’t let them procrastinate. When our kids have a test, we expect them to show up and do well. It’s time to demand as much from this legislature as we demand from a child.”

Parents, Teachers, Students Rally for More School Funding and Less Testing-Texas Observer-February 24, 2013

At Capital Educsation Rally, tough words for legislature-Texas Tribune-February 23, 2013-Click Here

Diane Ravitch opposes privatization of public education

The Conversation: Diane Ravitch | Smiley & West
Former U.S. Assistant Education Secretary Diane Ravitch tells Smiley and West why she is now a fierce opponent of privatization within public education. 

CLICK HERE

"Now the public schools are the new frontier for the profiteers ...One of the biggest supporters of this privatization movement is Wall Street... Wall Street is now holding investor conferences on how to make money in education." Diane Ravitch

"The precious children of the rich get taught.  The precious children of the poor get tested." Diane Ravitch

"What the best and wisest parent wants for his child is what we should want for all the children of the community and anything less than that is unlovely and left unchecked will destroy our democracy." (School and Society - John Dewey - 100 years ago)

"If they love teachers so much, they would stop blaming them for the social and economic problems caused by the outsourcing of jobs that people in this country need. Teachers have gotten the blame for everything, including being blamed for poverty." Diane Ravitch 

Diane Ravitch says 'Race to the Top is a terrible education policy'

From Diane Ravitch's Blog - October 25, 2012

Diane Ravitch speaks on Race to the Top:

"Yesterday I announced my intention to vote for President Obama, and given the choice confronting us, I will vote for President Obama.

I will vote for him despite his terrible education policy known as Race to the Top.

It is a disaster. It has all the faults of No Child Left Behind, and it is worse.

It is incentivizing the creation of more privately managed charter schools, which are more segregated than the public schools in the same district and which do not even get higher test scores. It is pushing more testing, more school closings, more destabilizing of communities, more labeling of children, more layoffs, more money spent for compliance with federal mandates.

Race to the Top is harmful to children, to teachers, to principals, and to the future of public education in America.

Education Week reporter Alyson Klein wrote an analysis of what lies ahead in a second Obama term, and it is more of the same. What is especially disgusting is that the President continues to believe that Race to the Top is a positive policy; he seems to think that it will improve public education. He has not heard anything that teachers and parents and principals across the nation have been shouting. Stop the high-stakes testing! Stop the evaluation of teachers by test scores! Stop the privatization!

Federal policy is supposed to be devoted to equity, to helping the neediest children, not to a race. What is the point of a “race” in education? Are we racing to get the highest test scores? How does that promote equality of educational opportunity?

What is even more disgusting is that your representatives in Congress are voting the funds to continue the advance of these toxic policies. Raise your voices. Let your Senator and member of Congress know that Race to the Top is racing for the edge of a cliff. Stop. Stop now."

Diane Ravitch - TASB Speaker - Austin, Texas - September 30, 2012

Teachers deserve our trust

"As former United States Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch pointed out recently in the New York Review of Books, "The 'no excuses' reformers maintain that all children can attain academic proficiency without regard to poverty, disability, or other conditions, and that someone must be held accountable if they do not.

That someone is invariably their teachers.

"Nothing is said about holding accountable the district leadership or the elected officials who determine such crucial issues as funding, class size, and resource allocation. The reformers say that our economy is in jeopardy, not because of growing poverty or income inequality or the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, but because of bad teachers. These bad teachers must be found and thrown out. Any laws, regulations, or contracts that protect these pedagogical malefactors must be eliminated so that they can be quickly removed without regard to experience, seniority, or due process."

Ravitch should know, being something of a reformed reformer who once believed in the kinds of market-based education policies infecting countries like ours.

Symptoms include standardized testing, charter schools, creeping privatization, test-based accountability, and performance-based pay for teachers.

It all sounds rational and appealing, until you look at Finland."

More Here

Find an experienced educator to be Superintendent

Dallas Morning News-Diane Ravitch: 20 Years later, debunking the 'Texas Miracle'

Published: 23 September 2011 05:00 PM

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20110923-diane-ravitch-20-years-later-debunking-the-texas-miracle.ece

Diane Ravitch
"The current national school reform was born in Texas, probably hatched in Dallas." 

"As Dallas seeks a new superintendent, I have this advice: Find an experienced educator, someone who was a master teacher and then a highly successful principal. Don’t recruit a corporate leader who knows nothing about teaching and learning. Find a man or woman who knows how children learn, who knows how to encourage teachers and principals, who knows how to reach out to all parts of the community and bring them together to support Dallas’ children. Above all, look for someone who has a compelling vision of what a great education is and the energy to make it happen for all the children."

Diane Ravitch is the author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Her website is www.dianeravitch.com.

What sane nation would want to lose experienced teachers?

Dallas ISD almost lost another experienced teacher this week.

************************************************************************************
 Diane Ravitch  January 31, 2012 9:54 AM

"When I saw Linda Darling-Hammond last week in California, she gave me charts from the U.S. Department of Education's Schools and Staffing Survey which show that the modal years of teaching experience in 1987-88 was 15 (meaning that there were more teachers with 15 years of experience than any other group); in the latest published survey, 2007-08, the modal years of experience was one. That means that in 2008 there were more teachers in their first year of teaching than any other group. This is frightening. What sane nation would want to lose its experienced teachers and rely increasingly on newcomers?"  Click Here
 
************************************************************************************

Dan Rather Reports: No Easy Answers About Public Schools, Diane Ravitch

"Public schools are under attack ... No Child Left Behind is a federal law that has set our public school system on the road to destruction ... It has had a very negative impact on American education."