Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Why I Changed My Mind About School Reform

Ravitch's op ed in today's WSJ:

What we need is not a marketplace, but a coherent curriculum that prepares all students. And our government should commit to providing a good school in every neighborhood in the nation, just as we strive to provide a good fire company in every community.

On our present course, we are disrupting communities, dumbing down our schools, giving students false reports of their progress, and creating a private sector that will undermine public education without improving it. Most significantly, we are not producing a generation of students who are more knowledgable, and better prepared for the responsibilities of citizenship. That is why I changed my mind about the current direction of school reform.

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Why I Changed My Mind About School Reform

Federal testing has narrowed education and charter schools have failed to live up to their promise.

By DIANE RAVITCH

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