Thank you to the many readers who have turned this blog into a go-to place for all interested in the battle to save and improve public education!
Many reporters have told me that they check the blog to find out what is happening in education, since most of the mainstream media either doesn’t report on education or writes stories from the point of view of those who want to privatize the public schools.
The blog just passed 19 million page views, as it approaches its 3rd birthday (April 26). It reached 18 million on March 6. That is one million page views in one month. That’s a record for the blog.
Today also happens to be the day I fell exactly one year ago and ruined my knee. I am walking again, but I have a permanent disability. Given the fact that I take blood thinners due to previous bouts with clots, I was lucky that I did not get internal bleeding in the knee when I fell. If I had, I would not have survived it. So I have much to be thankful for today.
My joy in the blog is that it lets parents and educators know not only what is happening–the good and the bad–but that they are not alone. I try to provide a platform for other people’s voices. I have tried to create a community of discussion, debate, and free expression, all in the service of better education for all. I could have been writing another book. The blog has been my form of activism, and I have enjoyed every minute of creating it, facilitating it, weighing in to the comments, arguing when I don’t agree, offering encouragement when others are struggling.
Let me take this opportunity to urge you to sign up for the second annual conference of the Network for Public Education in Chicago on April 24-26. It will be an opportunity to meet with others who share your concerns and to meet some of your favorite bloggers, as well as some awesome speakers and panelists. You will leave feeling inspired and motivated. Join the Resistance to the Status Quo! Anthony Cody will be there, and here are his reasons why you should be too!
Thank YOU Diane! The fight for public education continues.
Bravo Diane!
Thank you, Diane. You make a difference.
Seriously, I use your blog as an encyclopedia. That little search bar at the bottom turns up all sorts of good info on education issues! It is better than google!
Thank you for all of your dedication to help spread the word regarding education in America! You are very much appreciated!
Thank you Diane. You are a safe refuge in a very violent public arena. Congratulations on your blog and I truly hope you are feeling well. Happy Spring.
Thank you.
Thank you for fighting through tough times to continue to be a leader in the struggle for justice and public education. You inspire us to imitate your drive and sense of purpose .
Thank you for your courage,honesty and dedication in the quest to save our public schools and education. The information and awareness you provide is so important at a time when there is so much misinformation and distrust of those in control. I am recovering from shattered knee cartilage and a tear so I have an idea what you are going through… God speed your recovery. Keep leading the good fight for education ,
This is wonderful news!
I would like to thank you for your work and for testifying in Olympia, Washington last week. You help us bring credibility to important issues.
Follow up on EWOP the new segregated teachers in Newark
You are my go to reference for friends who want to know what’s up in education. After I give them an elevator pitch length synopsis, I send them Bob Herbert’s article for Politico last year and a link to something relevant in your blog. Congratulations and many thanks.
Congratulations. Our building is well informed on reform issues because of your blog. Thank you for your tireless efforts to help save public education.
I think that your have reached an additional million hits in just over a month shows that a critical mass is forming. You have singlehandedly created a movement. A lot has to do with the inspiration and the voice you give to all of us. You have given voice to our worries, fears, thoughts, hopes and dreams. I said this a month ago and I will say it again. You have taught me so much about education in the last several years. I realize now how little I really knew as a college student, graduate student, and teacher of many years. You are the ultimate teacher. Great teachers can make difficult topics understandable and clear to us average folk. You have crystallized every issue and have made so many understand how dangerous the reform movement has become. It is not just about greed, but what type of country we are becoming. The reformers do not realize that if they destroy public education, they are rending the very fabric of our great nation. Keep well, keep writing, and keep us optimistic.
I said to the Post Dispatch in St. Louis….I do not know which is more ridiculous….the number of times I refer to Diane Ravitch’s site, or the number of times the Post Dispatch doesn’t. (never, ever)They are supposedly a liberal paper—Their most prominent writer is Bill McClellan, and I nailed down what should be some embarrassing information about the state charter commission with my comments after http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/bill-mcclellan/mcclellan-where-have-you-gone-bob-gibson/article_b05f773d-9e6d-54ec-87b7-825192f77c87.html…….The St. louis mayor, who engineered a horrible takeover in 2007 had one of his top advisers named head of the nine member state commission on charter schools..they do not want to tell anyone who is on the committee…read it and you will recognize why…. I rounded up five of them…….I was not particularly nice about it…………
Thank you Diane
From whence this blog and others like it? What connection to pubic education?
Someone has written eloquently on this, referring to an English teacher many years ago in a public school:
[start excerpt]
When you wrote something for her class, which happened with frequency, you paid close attention to proper English. Accuracy mattered. She had a red pen and she used it freely. Still, she was always sure to make a comment that encouraged us to do a better job. Clearly she had multiple goals for her students beyond teaching literature and grammar. She was also teaching about character and personal responsibility. These are not the sorts of things that appear on any standardized test.
[end excerpt]
Chapter Nine, “What Would Mrs. Ratliff Do?” in THE DEATH AND LIFE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM: HOW TESTING AND CHOICE ARE UNDERMINING EDUCATION (revised and expanded paperback edition, 2011, pp. 169-170).
I don’t think I’m straining credibility to think that there is a connection between Mrs. Ruby Ratliff “teaching about character and personal responsibility” and “Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discuss better education for all.”
You see, the author of the above excerpt is the owner of this blog and the justifiably proud holder of 19 million views—and the hits keep coming!
Sometimes good things happen to people that do the right thing.
“I reject that mind-set.” [Michele Rhee]
Honestly, folks, we knew she would say that.
So, to get back on track, congratulations to someone who has lived her teacher’s lessons about character and personal responsibility. On to the next 19 million—and more.
😎
This is a beautifully framed tribute to two great teachers, one still with us and going strong. Thanks for providing this forum Diane.
You rock, Dr. Diane! And you are our rock, too. Rock on!
God Bless that you are strong enough to stand u p and carry on. You are unique. You have never shrunk from telling the truth to power.
There is nowhere else where I can learn what I do here, and I read widely. I post links to your blog, because YOU are the one who puts it all in context with details and facts. I have one series, thanks to you, which I cll 15,880/50. In these Quicklinks I use your posts to demonstrate what is afoot in the 50 states, now that most of the legislatures are red, THANKS TO THE ‘GENIUS STRATEGY,’ they are now using on the schools. You did see my link to this DIANE.
The people of this country have no idea what the legislatures and governors are up to!It scares me how fast they are taking over. I frequently add a link to your post on North Carolina and the new Koch High Schools curricula at a North Carolina school.…. because that is the future
I often link to that Max Brantley piece
to show what these charlatans are trying to do to the profession… the Walton money calling the shots. The hedge funds backing Cuomo… its all there, on your site, to be read, so I send it to a new-site, but I would rather see your posts headlined at the NY Times, and The Washington Post.
MY own son (the doctor…LOL) who lives in NJ, and loves Christie, has no idea what is ongoing.voice
So, for others like him, bright folks who do read, I introduce, to the general public (at the progressive blog OEN (Oped News) the latest in this 3rd assault, but I cannot just tell the story, I must have facts and links, and you never disappoint me.
At a new-site, unlike a blog, links are required because facts are required for everything and anything which we offer as true. That is what your blog offers.. the truth, which these days is hard to find, so obscured by irrelevance and misinformation. The truth for me — and everyone I know well, in the field of education, — is that if they are not stopped, at the grassroots, there will be no road to opportunity for our people… not just those mired in poverty, but for the middle class, too. Everyone impoverished by lack of skills that require critical thought and rigor, things that wonderful teachers always managed to enable… when the practice, the classroom was in their hands.
Here at your blog, the voices of the classroom teacher at the bottom (as Rob would say) join the voices of those whose academic background allows the insight into their methods. Pelto, Green, Burris, and so many wonderful analysis lead to only one conclusion… they must be stopped and FAST!
Thru you I offer the insights of Peter Greene and the incredible analysis by Anthony Cody, John Pelto, and so many others who have ‘eyes on’ the process which is undermining LEARNING everywhere.
I hope to get my own blog up and running, because I want to speak as a teacher again, and inform the the public , as I once informed parents (in my weekly letters) WITTT — what it actually takes to teach.
I hope to link to some of the voices of teachers which I have copied from this site, as teachers who write here explain with passion, the impediments to facilitating any kind of learning. Placed there by top-down administration, these mandates and policies make teaching impossible, and thus learning is disabled.
Several thousand views attend my posts each month, and I am thrilled that many of the readers message me, saying that they have young children, and that they do not know what to do; many appreciate the links to your site, which gives them the truth and offers the big picture, that was lacking in the media EVERYWHERE.
I wish I could go to Chicago, but I am on my way to Austin. Say hello to Anthony and Randi for me. I will meet them next year! it is time!
Happy Holiday, Diane, and all of you here who are dedicated to our children.
Thank you for leading the way and giving others a voice.
1. Here’s to 20 million, which will probably occur soon.
2. For those attending Network for Public Ed conference, I hope you’ll attend the panel that includes Newark Student Union leaders Kristen and Tanaisa. If you’re not familiar w. NSU, google NSU while waiting at boarding gate. I won’t be there but please treat these intrepid students to a soda.
Dr Ravitch, WE are fortunate that you didn’t have internal complications when you fell and send wishes for ongoing improvement.
Diane,
Congratulations and THANK YOU!
Your blog is my daily bread. This week I was upstate helping my sis hoe out our recently-deceased mom’s house. She is a hard-working high-school AP who barely has time to read the news. I read your April Fool Cuomo post to her– after wiping away tears of laughter she promptly put the blog in her ‘favorites’. Keep up the great work.
The keynote speaker at the national PTA conference is Dr. Steve Perry
I guess they couldn’t find a speaker among the tens of thousands of public school leaders. Do local public schools pay dues to the national PTA when those schools have a local PTA affiliate? Gosh, I hope not. Might want to reallocate that money to the school.
http://www.pta.org/meeting.cfm?ItemNumber=4195&navItemNumber=3421
Hopefully it is exponential growth… 20 million in 2 weeks! 🙂 Congrats!
Congratulations! Remember to take care of you & your family first – we need you physically & mentally strong & healthy!
Here’s the national PTA on the Common Core tests:
http://www.pta.org/advocacy/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3008&navItemNumber=557
Check out the sponsored links. Not a single dissenting opinion presented.
I can see we’re having our usual lively, rigorous debate where the ed reform “movement” opinions are presented as fact with no opposing opinion even considered worthy of mention.
Gates’ money to the PTA, no surprise.
Semi-good news. Deborah Jacobs, a program director at the Gates Foundation, was quoted in an article about the Gates wind down of funding to libraries,
“No Gates funding is meant to exist in perpetuity. The Foundation itself is meant to wind down all funding after its founders pass away.”
as a parent of young children and a teacher, I thank you! UNITY!
Thank you to Diane Ravitch! As far as I can tell, Dr. Ravitch’s blog has far more views, than the Gates blog, “Gates Notes”. And, Dr. Ravitch doesn’t have the automatic tune-ins from a huge cadre of foundation employees and Microsoft employees to bolster her readership.
Thanks so much for your blog and your books. I check frequently and try to read every post. Am so glad to know so many are doing the same. I also read a lot of the comments and go to many of the links. I so admire your work. Thanks for sharing personal info as well regarding your knee and the loss of your young son. Your work is very appreciated by this reader.
Thanks. A light in the darkness.
Thank goodness for the Internet and access to free speech! Your voice is a gift to us all! Most newspapers are no longer free speech operations but rather special interest propaganda machines. Your blog has been an amazing vehicle for the truth to be told and heard regarding what is happening to the U.S. public education system.
Congratulations, and take care of that knee.