THE RAVITCH FACTOR

Kelly Amis of Loudspeaker Films, a former TFA corps member who used to work with Diane Ravitch, recently posted a scathing critique of her:

Diane Ravitch, a well-known education historian and analyst, is getting more attention now than ever before, since pulling a "180" on almost everything she used to stand for.

I had the pleasure of working with Diane in the late 1990's (together we wrote "Fulfilling the Promise of Head Start" for one), and it is an understatement to say I am now gravely disappointed. It appears that Diane has given up on the low-income, minority kids and families she wanted to change the world for, and jumped on a bandwagon where she can enjoy unfettered attention and popularity by people who want to keep our education system just as it is: a place where teachers aren't held accountable for working hard, where unions (but not teachers) enjoy a truly incomparable amount of power (and blithely abuse it), and where massive segments of the population are stuck in schools that treat them like second-class citizens. 

Having worked in this arena for twenty years now, I know it can be hard to continually say and support things that are unpopular with the many adults who benefit from the status quo. The teachers unions are super organized, loud, active and very powerful (especially in their hold on my, the Democratic, party). 

(I'm really looking forward to Kelly's new documentary, TEACHED (www.loudspeakerfilms.com/about-teached), which is now in production.)

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THE RAVITCH FACTOR

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 04:07PM

www.loudspeakerfilms.com/reading/the-ravitch-factor.html