GreatSchools.org ranks and rates the nation’s public, charter and private schools. It aims to be a consumer’s guide for parents who are shopping for a school.

I know some of those involved, and I know they mean well. But this sort of rating service, based on data and reviews, not only raises a basic question—how can you judge an establishment you have never visited or seen with your own eyes–but contributes to the marketplace mentality that is now dissolving any sense of community or support for public schools.

The rating system reinforces the data-driven perspective that keeps everyone obsessed with testing and ranking and rating. And in doing so, it promotes consumerism as parents search desperately for better rated alternatives, not knowing that the alternatives may be no better. The end result is destruction of community and loss of the commons.

This may not be the intention of those involved in the organization. But in life, intentions matter less than outcomes.

This letter came from a teacher in Texas:

Dear Dr. Ravitch:

I am not sure if you have dealt with these morons before, but I am infuriated and am writing to you to see if you can use this in your blog to educate parents nationwide.

I recently learned from my parents, that an editorial came out in our local newspaper, the Laredo Morning Times, where our local school districts both received rankings of 3 and 4 respectively, from an “Independent Organization” called “Great Schools” on a 10 point scale. Basically, the editorial cited that both districts have the worst state test results in decades as of the recent administration of the now called STARR test, previously TAKS, previously TAAS, etc, etc, ad nauseoum.

From a cursory browsing of the Great Schools Web Site, if you look at the list of supporters and funders, you see the all too familiar names of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Walton Group, etc. And their officers and board members? All of them seem to be a parade for private school alumni and hedge fund managers.

I am taking advantage of our Thanksgiving holiday week, to send a letter exposing these jerks, and defending our public education system, at least at the local level, to our town newspaper. These jokers have just smeared the faculty members of mine and many other campuses by saying our districts are failing our students. On the website, you can see many ads for charter schools, K12, and many other pictures that scream privatization and school choice.

Their misleading slogan of “Involved Parents, Succesful Kids” leads site visitors to believe that they are all pro-students, when in reality, they are advertising a painful truth in our districts( Poverty and Family Violence, among many other issues that create null parent involvement) and using it as a way to convince the uneducated parents that privatization, school choice and online charters are better.

If you can offer any insight on how to draft my letter to the newspaper, your wisdom would be immensely appreciated. I am not going to let this attack on the profession I love so much go unanswered.

Yours in Education,