I just noticed that the blog has had 15,000,050 page views since its inception on April 26, 2012.
I am amazed and gratified.
Thank you to the readers who are here everyday, commenting, sending articles from your town, city or state.
Thank for for engaging in thoughtful dialogue in the comment section.
Some of the best-read blogs have been written not by me, but by you.
The blog has become a hub of the resistance to high-stakes testing and privatization. I will continue to highlight the hard work you do to strengthen your public schools, to stand up for children, and to defend real education, as opposed to the massive machinery of data collection that is now promoted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Gates Foundation. I will continue to honor those parents, students, and educators who speak out for real education and for treating students and teachers with dignity. I will continue to support those who fight politically motivated budget cuts that hurt children.
Together we will do what now seems impossible. We will one day restore sanity to education policy, which is now completely off-track and determined to tag and label each of us as though we were cattle. The policies that govern federal policy are written for the benefit of the education industry, not for the education of our children. Our policies bear no meaningful relationship to love of learning. We will put a stop to it, because it is absurd. Not today, not tomorrow, but in due time, the cyborgs who now control education policy will return to the planet from which they came and allow us once again to educate our children for meaningful lives, not as pawns of the testing industry, not as consumers of tech products, not as data points, but as full human beings.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank YOU, Diane, for being such an indefatigable leader.
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A testimony to your leadership and how it inspires others to act!
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Congratulations
Sent from my iPhone
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TY, Diane.
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Thank you for maintaining this blog.
By the way, DNAinfo is doing some excellent reporting on the SUNY Charter Institute and Success Academy. Yesterday they reported on how SUNY quietly allowed Success Academy to amend its application the day before last week’s meeting to allow a school to open in District 1 or 6 instead of District 2.
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141014/lower-east-side/success-academy-quietly-moves-open-new-les-or-uptown-school
Apparently SUNY was embarrassed to be caught out on this because they seemed to have a changed a public document on their website about the new charter locations.
Here is how the document read yesterday, when Success Academy was given approval to locate a school in Community School District 1 or 6:
And here is how the same document reads today. Notice that SUNY has changed the approval from Community School District 1 or 6 and now it reads “Community School District 2”.
Click to access PublicList_Oct20141.pdf
Apparently, when caught out by the press, SUNY felt the need to go back and pretend they did not grant the change that they obviously did. I hope more news organizations step up and follow up on DNAinfo’s fine reporting on this.
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Apologies, I intended to post a link to the document and it posted the entire document. In any event, there is a link from the DNAinfo article to the original document that SUNY had, which gave approval for a school in District 1 or 6.
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Danke Schön!
Diane, without you our children and teachers would be much worse off. At least, someone, some day, will hear us from the bottom of the Reformsters’ ravine, pick up our signals and change the education world so children and teachers can thrive.
Utmost respect and admiration for you and all you do for us.
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“Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discuss better education for all.”
Hmmmm….
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” [Mark Twain]
Hmmmm….
Color me gratified and astonished!
😎
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Reblogged this on Kmareka.com and commented:
The best blog I know for following K-12 education and politics.
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Thank you Diane!!!
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Thank you for being a constant source of strength in this battle against the tentacles of ed reform!
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You rock, Diane! Thanks for inviting all of us into your living room each day. Thanks for your energy, your thoughtfulness and your outrage.
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Thanks, Christine! The outrage is my rocket fuel.
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Too bad you’re not a rocket scientist! (Tongue way over in cheek 😉)
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Congratulations, Diane! What a fabulous achievement! Through your intelligence, hard work, perseverance and unique ability to articulate what we feel but cannot always state, you have created a movement and mobilized a nation! Kudos to you for that and, above all, thank you!!!!!
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Thank you, Shelley. This blog is your platform, and that’s why I so often post the wisdom of teachers, parents and administrators. Together we will create a movement and save our children from the Profit Monster and the Testing Monster. A two-headed monster.
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Thank you. This blog is a life-line for everyone out in the trenches. You’re the best!
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Thanks for this fulcrum blog site, and for your wisdom. You have helped the LA muckrakers immeasurably.
Hope the knee is working now as well as the brain always does. You are a treasure.
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Your blog is a testament to the power of the word. We are grateful that it not only exists, but is working. 15,000,000 is a lot of readers and a lot of reading. Congratulations!
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Thank you, Diane! This blog is an incredible resource. Some days, though, I get very sad indeed while reading about the clear and present danger to public education. But, I am also inspired by your courage in speaking truth to power. Thank you for giving us a place to raise our voices as well.
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Thank you for building this community, Diane. I am proud to be a part of it. Was beginning to feel a little down about being a teacher. Now I feel proud again.
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Congratulations Diane! This is the best blog I’ve ever read! Thank you for standing up to bureaucrats and standing up for students and teachers. Speaking of bureaucrats, today, Students First came to my school and laid out a nice presentation. They had platters of food to give to teachers and gave their song and dance about how they put students and teachers first. They sugar coated everything and played to these poor teachers lack of knowledge. Of course, behind the scenes I am enlightening these teachers whenever I get the chance!
As soon as I got there I asked the leader who funds their organization, she replied Eli Broad. I said that her organization is everything I am against and that billionaires without education backgrounds cannot make decisions about education without consulting teachers. Not surprisingly, she used to work for Educators for Excellence. I was surprised that she said she was a former public school teacher. I was sickened when Students First raved about Marshall Tuck and encouraged teachers to vote for him for California Superintendent of Education, saying that he is the best choice. Do they know that Torlakson is a former teacher and has done much for teachers in this state? Do they know Tuck has no education background and is financed by people like Eli Broad? They then went on to tell teachers to vote against Bennett Kayser, (LAUSD school board member, former teacher, and teacher advocate), in May. Who gives them the right to tell teachers who to vote for?
I work for a LAUSD charter school, but I am an anomaly since I worked for public schools for 12 years. (including LAUSD). I believe in everything Diane speaks for, although I have personally had a positive experience with the charter school I work for. I do not agree or know about everything they represent, but I can be a voice in the midst of it! Thank you Diane, keep up the great work! If we all work together, soon we can turn the tide of education in America and overturn the damage that programs like NCLB and Race to the Top created!
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Thank you, Heather. I think it is illegal to electioneer on school grounds. Maybe charters are exempt from that law.
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That’s exactly what I was thinking Diane!! Employers should not allow corporations to tell people how to vote!! Well guess what, now they can’t say anything when I tell teachers the truth!
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Dear Dr Ravitch,
You’ve created a cross-continental community. Thanks to your astute and articulate leadership, we can reflect on Lloyd Lofthouse’s observations; learn the professional challenges confronting Threatened Out West; imagine Duane Swacker stimulating his students; and marvel at how quickly SomeDAM Poet composes an apt riposte. Many thanks for your time and devotion.
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Book lady: that’s my goal!
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Hi Diane,
I am a school social worker in the Chicago Public Schools and read your blog daily. I just wanted to let you know about what is going on with a colleague of mine, Dan Coyne. He is a wonderful school social worker who is in danger of losing his job because he lives in Evanston. Dan has been working in the Chicago Public Schools since 2002 and was given a waiver when he started working in the city, stating that he did not have to meet the residency requirement to work in CPS. In 2010, after Dan donated one of his kidneys to a grocery store clerk, Dan almost lost his job due to the fact that he does not live in the city. However, due to pressure generated from the publicity of giving his kidney to a practical stranger, he received another waiver- this time a lifetime waiver from Ron Huberman, the CEO at the time. Dan faces a pre-termination hearing tomorrow (October 16th), due to the fact that he lives in Evanston (just outside of Chicago). CPS can’t afford to lose such a generous, caring, and compassionate school social worker. I wanted to send you this beautiful and touching letter that Dan wrote to his colleagues. Also, below the letter is a petition requesting that Dan not lose his job.
Dear CPS Family,
Thank you for serving our CPS students, families, and co-workers with unbelievable care. As I prepare for my termination hearing next week, I find myself feeling deeply appreciative of you. My first hand experiences in the clinical trenches of Chicago Public Schools taught me to never take teamwork for granted. It has been an honor working beside you. Thank you.
CPS threatening to fire me for living outside of Chicago is nothing new but now that I’m about to embark on the next life-chapter, I can’t help reflecting on the coolest bunch of folks anyone could want as teammates!
Our daily services can feel like an eternal marathon, from time to time, with children all around us suffering unimaginable pain due, in part to poverty, dysfunctional politics, and disproportionate public school funding. One has to question if our efforts are making any difference in the bigger picture. Don’t fall prey to such temptation. Please be certain that our individual treatment of students is worth the effort. We are making huge differences in lives. Suicidal and homicidal students are learning how to cope with their understandable anger/frustration. Special needs children are learning to value their wonderful contributions to our broken world. Grieving students are learning how to entrust their feelings of loss with adults. Through our clinical work, our community’s future leaders are learning how to care for themselves and those around them, despite the obstacles Chicago places in their way.
And let’s not forget the courageous educators whose tears of hopelessness call us into compassionate problem solving. We can’t escape the reality of their impossible teaching impediments: 38 students per classroom, building conditions that first world communities would never wish for, nonexistent school supplies/supports, and part-time/partial clinical teams that our suburban district cousins can’t believe. Although we can’t control CPS’ unhealthy systems, we can at least provide sympathetic shoulders to the hardest working educators in town, our teachers. Please don’t forget how our work brings hope to many an educator too worn out to take another step. We clinicians are strategically positioned to give our teachers a lift through classroom coverage for a few minutes or pulling out students for social-emotional skills building. Our teachers are doing everything humanly possible to reach Chicago’s children. We owe it to them to persevere in our support.
If you ever find yourself under attack by CPS administrators and their legal sharks, please remember to ignore the negative messages. They may say that your actions are unbecoming of a clinician and that the charges against you are justified. Be assured that the children, families, and educators you serve know differently.
I find deep peace working among you. Thank you for preparing the way and walking along side.
Faithfully,
Dan Coyne, CPS School Social Worker
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/do-not-fire-dan-coyne?source=s.fwd&r_by=7565403
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Congratulations, Diane! Thank you for giving us an ear as well as a voice. And thank you for shining the spotlight on other great folks (Peter Greene comes immediately to mind). You have been a light in the darkness for me these last few years. A handful of people came to mind when I watched Tyler Perry’s Points of Light speech; you were one of them.
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“So shines a good deed in a weary world.” Thank you, Diane!
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