The Answer Sheet: Diane Ravitch


Posted at 11:24 AM ET, 01/31/2012

Does Obama understand Race to the Top? — Ravitch
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch pinpoints contradictions in President Obama’s policies and statements about school reform, leading to the question about whether he actually understands the effects of his own Race to the Top program.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:24 AM ET, 01/31/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch

Posted at 05:05 PM ET, 01/10/2012

Ravitch: No Child Left Behind and the damage done
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch explores the damage done to American public education in the decade since No Child Left Behind became law.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:05 PM ET, 01/10/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  No Child Left Behind, Diane Ravitch

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 11/03/2011

Ravitch updates best-selling book on ed reform
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch does what critics say she doesn’t do in her expanded edition of her best-selling ‘The Death and Life of the Great American School System. But they still won’t like it.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 11/03/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch

Posted at 11:15 AM ET, 10/18/2011

Ravitch: Why ‘miracle schools’ aren’t really miracles
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch debunks stories about “miracle schools” that have suddenly turned themselves around.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:15 AM ET, 10/18/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 09/13/2011

Ravitch tells how Kopp, Duncan surprised her
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch write about how Wendy Kopp surprised in when the two were debating this summer, and the surprising thing Education Secretary Arne Duncan said when she met him at a party.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:30 PM ET, 09/13/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/03/2011

The Diane Ravitch myth
By Valerie Strauss
Anybody reading much of the commentary written on education policy could be forgiven for thinking that education historian Diane Ravitch is somehow the Wizardess of Ed, the woman behind the curtain secretly pulling the strings.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 03/03/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, bill gates, charter schools, colbert report, diane ravitch, jon stewart, president obama, school reform, whitney tilson

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 03/01/2011

Ravitch: 'A moment of national insanity'
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "The reality on the ground suggests that the corporate reform movement ... will set American education back, by how many years or decades is anyone's guess."

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 03/01/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Education Secretary Duncan, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  arne duncan, diane ravitch, gates foundation, president obama, president obama and school reform, race to the top, school reform, teachers

Posted at 02:00 PM ET, 01/18/2011

Ravitch: The pitfalls of putting economists in charge of education
By Valerie Strauss
Diane Ravitch writes, "It is astonishing to realize the extent to which education debates are now framed and dominated by economists, not by educators or sociologists or cognitive psychologists or anyone else who actually spends time in classrooms."

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:00 PM ET, 01/18/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  diane ravitch, gates foundation, gates-funded project, mike rose, teacher assessment, teacher evaluation, value-added, value-added measures

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 12/28/2010

Ravitch takes stock of education in 2010
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch looks back at the education world of 2010.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 12/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  diane ravitch, education policy, teacher assessment, teachers

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 11/30/2010

Ravitch answers Gates
By Valerie Strauss
Bill Gates, in an article by Jonathan Alter of Newsweek, poses some questions to education historian Diane Ravitch, who Alter inexplicably calls the Microsoft founder's "chief adversary." Here she answers Gates' questions.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 11/30/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  bill gates, charter schools, diane ravitch, jonathan alter, microsoft, newsweek, school reform, teachers

Posted at 09:04 AM ET, 11/17/2010

What Ravitch told KIPP and Teach for America
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch gave a speech at Rice University about school reform in which she directly challenged officials from Teach for America and the Knowledge Is Power Program who were present -- the very people who had invited her.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:04 AM ET, 11/17/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, charter schools, diane ravitch, finland, finland education, kipp, knowledge is power program, nclb, no child left behind, obama school reform, president obama, rice university, secretary duncan, teach for america, teachers, tfa

Posted at 12:02 PM ET, 10/13/2010

Ravitch: Charters are a lead bullet
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "Charters are not a silver bullet. They are a lead bullet. Their target is American public education.""

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:02 PM ET, 10/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  CREDO, broad roundation, charter schools, diane ravitch, icef, richard riordan, ross global, ross global academy

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 10/06/2010

Ravitch: Why teachers should never be rated by test scores
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "...Value-added assessment should not be used at all. Never. It has a wide margin of error. It is unstable. A teacher who is highly effective one year may get a different rating the next year depending on which students are assigned to his or her class. Ratings may differ if the tests differ. To the extent it is used, it will narrow the curriculum and promote teaching to tests. Teachers will be mislabeled and stigmatized. Many factors that influence student scores will not be counted at all."

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 10/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  diane ravitch, how to assess teache, l.a. times, l.a. times database, los angeles times, ravitch book, rigoberto ruelas, school reform, teacher and suicide, teacher assessment, teacher commits suicide, teacher database, teacher evaluation, teachers, test scores, value added

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/29/2010

Ravitch: The long, failed history of merit pay and how the Ed Department ignores it
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch writes: "Few people realize that merit pay schemes have been tried again and again since the 1920s. Belief in them waxes and wanes, but the results have never been robust." And a day after a big study was released showing that performance pay made no difference, the Education Department handed out millions of dollars for the development of merit pay programs.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/29/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  $1.2 billion and merit pay, diane ravitch, education department and merit pay, merit pay, merit pay study, performance pay, ravitch book, study on performance pay, vanderbilt study

Posted at 01:30 PM ET, 09/23/2010

Ravitch: Why Fenty, Rhee really lost
By Valerie Strauss
Diane Ravitch, writing about Mayor Adrian Fenty's loss, says: "Journalists attributed Fenty’s loss to the power of the teachers’ union, but such an explanation implies that black voters, even in the privacy of the voting booth, lack the capacity to make an informed choice. When the Tea Party wins a race, journalists don’t write about who controlled their vote, but about a voter revolt; they acknowledge that those who turned out to vote had made a conscious decision."

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:30 PM ET, 09/23/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  D.C. schools, Diane Ravitch, adrian fenty, bill perkins, democrats for education reform, dfer, fenty loses, gray rhee, gray rhee summit, michelle rhee, school reform, tea party, teacher unions, vincent gray

Posted at 12:34 PM ET, 09/19/2010

Ravitch: Why civil rights groups oppose the Obama agenda
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch looks at the Obama administration's insistence on embracing competition in federal education funding and more.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:34 PM ET, 09/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, bridging differences, civil rights groups, civil rights report, diane ravitch, equity in education, guest bloggers, no child left behind, race to the top

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010

Ravitch: Welcome back to school "reform"
By Valerie Strauss
Diane Ravitch predicts that the 2010-11 school year will be another year in which "teachers and principals will be blamed and punished" unless their students' test scores go "up and up," more principals will be fired and more schools will be closed. And more.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 09/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  diane ravitch, education secretary duncan, guest bloggers, no child left behind, obama and blueprint, obama and school reform, race to the top, race to the top winners, rttt winners, the death and life of the great american school system, top ooool reboamael

Posted at 12:30 PM ET, 07/08/2010

Ravitch on teachers and her critics
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch brings down the house at a teachers convention and answers her critics.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:30 PM ET, 07/08/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  charter schools and research, death and life of great american school system, diane ravitch, ed week and ravitch, national education association and convention, nea convention, ravitch and nea, ravitch and teachers, ravitch and video, teachers convention

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 07/06/2010

Ravitch's 'modest' vision for school reform
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch answers her critics and provides a "modest" vision for school reform.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 07/06/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch | Tags:  bridging differences, death and life of great american school system, diane ravitch, ford foundation, michael edwards and small change, new york city public school parents blog, ravitch and new book, ravitch's book, stphen koss

Posted at 05:30 AM ET, 06/22/2010

Ravitch to Obama: 'Change course before it is too late"
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch talks about meeting thousands of teachers and parents who are "unhappy, frustrated and demoralized" at the Obama administration's education policies. And she explains what she would tell President Obama if he gave her the chance.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:30 AM ET, 06/22/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, death and life of the great american school system, diane ravitch, diane ravitch's book, no child left behind, obama blueprint for reform, race to the top, teachers, teachers unions and reform

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 06/16/2010

Ravitch: 'Are we in an era of National Stupidity?'
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch looks at the accumulating evidence revealing how our "accountability policies are a great fraud," and asks: "Are we in an era of National Stupidity or National Insanity?"

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:00 AM ET, 06/16/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  Arne Duncan, Diane Ravitch, accountability and nclb, accountability movement, accountability policies, bridging differences, diane ravitch and deborah meier, holding teachers accountability, how to hold teachers accountable, narrowing the curriculum, president obama and education bluerpint, president obama and school reform, teachers and merit pay

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 05/26/2010

Ravitch's 10 reasons to 'no' to Race to the Top
By Valerie Strauss
Education historian Diane Ravitch lists her top 10 reasons for why states should say "no" to Education Secretary Arne Duncan and refuse to participate in Race to the Top.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 05/26/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch, Diane Ravitch | Tags:  arne duncan, bridging differences, diane ravitch, no child left behind, race to the top, ravitch and race to the top