I am in Chicago for a family wedding this weekend. Tonight I had dinner with my dear friend Karen Lewis and her husband John. We had a lovely get-together.
When I came home, I discovered that the blog had passed the 21 million number. I am not a data-driven person, but I enjoyed knowing that I was able to share my platform with so many of you. you. Together, I think we are turning the tide against bad ideas. We will not stop until we have ended the menace of privately managed schools and high stakes testing. We want our children to love learning.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Congratulations and thanks for your work!
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Congrats… ♥ good work….
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Congratulations! I think this is karma for your bravery in not only realizing your mistakes, but admitting them publicly and working to make them right!
Not to mention that when the truth is spoken, people will slowly but surely start to listen!
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Love you.
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Thank you for all you do for students and public education.
There is a cheerleader column for Common Core in the Orlando Sentinel from a principal in Ocala, Florida:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ed-common-core-support-061215-20150611-story.html?track=rss
I’m sure one of your readers would do a better job than me enlightening the Sentinel readers to the pit falls of the Common Core.
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Your voice is much needed and greatly appreciated!
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Wonderful!
I am truly grateful for this blog and the work you do, Diane. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I think of you as a rainbow in a dark storm.
When I found this blog in 2013 and began reading, I laughed in spite of my tears. Prior to this discovery, I felt so alone.
Then I found out I was not alone, and that my hat was not made of tinfoil. Your work has been enormously helpful to me as I continue my work as an educator, artist, and activist.
Thank you thank you thsnk you!
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It feels like a milestone day to me also, Diane. 26,000,000 page views is a long way to come since those days back on Bridging Differences when this conversation started to snowball across the nation.
I testified yesterday, to my state legislators. I kept a promise that goes all the way back to those days, when it seemed so impossible to break through. Do you remember? Here’s what I told them:
“I’ve been teaching chemistry at my High School for 18 years. A working, integrated public high school is a great treasure, a jewel in the crown of public education, so I don’t want to condemn people now for what they’ve done to preserve it from the attacks of “accountability” over that time. It’s a Title I school in a Title I district, like the districts the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act was aimed to support. I came to testify to you, to ask you to support my Title I students.
“High stakes testing hurts all my chemistry students, even the ones who succeed at it and go on to Duke or Princeton. I want to tell you about the others, the supressors of the average score, ones who have been hurt the most by the data-driven and profit-driven chaos legislatures have heaped on them by force of law.
“Low-scoring students are pulled out of their chemistry class for special test prep sessions. The PA comes on with a list of names, and they look away and pretend they didn’t hear it. Their lab team might be setting up a crucible to burn magnesium ribbon, but they still have to go. If they don’t, the PA will come on again, and eventually, while they are still begging, my phone will ring. They won’t do so well on the test anyway, but sometimes they shine in their chemistry class. Chemistry might help them into technology trades, or to become medical technicians and nurses at the community colleges that are actually within their reach if they can just get through the data-driven minefield we have laid in front of them. But when they are pulled out of an eighty minute class, time after time, their A or B slips out of their hands, even though they come in after school. Chemistry on the new block schedule is only a one semester class, so missing it is a big loss. They often become depressed and disoriented when they fall behind, and I do work my heart out to keep them engaged and moving forward.
“The doctrine of test-score-based accountability is a weapon AGAINST these students and their communities. AYP is a game they can’t win, statistically, even if they succeed personally. The worst outcome is the take-over of low-income districts like Holyoke and Lawrence by the same private interests that lobbied you for these truly awful laws. However, the distorted policies implemented to avoid a low level rating have also been horrific for the children I serve. Unfair retention policies targeted them, so they could be held back endlessly in ninth grade until they reached 16 and disappeared magically from our rosters. My girls came to me in tears in the first decade of “accountability”, to turn in their chemistry text and be signed out of their school against their will for “failure to make academic progress”, without ever having taken the tenth grade tests. Scores rose, validating the egregious materials and interventions my district piloted for the public private partnership. Tens of thousands of students were lost to pushout schemes across the Commonwealth, as Anne Wheelock later demonstrated, but nobody was accountable for them. Powerful people charged with defending the public good looked away, while lobbyists for the interests that would become take-over vendors wrote another bad law.
“I am asking you to put a pause on the accelerating assessment chaos for three years, with a moratorium on the use of high-stakes test scores to punish districts, schools teachers and children. The only urgency all along has been the greed of the profit-driven “public private partners” who are robbing our communities of local control. Put a moratorium on the insertion of the arrogant and corrupt testing industry into the daily life of every student in the state. Let the children breathe and learn while we, the people, finally deliberate about what “reforms” we want to impose on them by force of law.
“There is so much we can say about the public schools our communities want and our children deserve, if the people are given an opportunity and transparency to do that. We’ve already begun that process, but we need you to pass an honest law to continue. Listen to the people who elect you, and who put their trust in this legislature, instead of to the testing-industry lobbyists and profit-driven corporate education interests. Please pass H340.”
Who would have believed we could come so far, and look around to see so many of us?
http://massteacher.org/news/archive/2015/dozens_slated_to_testify_at_hearing_on_high_stakes_testing.aspx
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Excellent.
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Diane,
With all due respect. If we are able stop Common Core, end excessive testing, oust the computer company diversion of taxpayer dollars earmarked for public education and eliminate Charter schools, we will have won the battles and still have lost the war. It’s a war that you may never recognize because you have never taught, and despite your obvious defense of teaching, you are not truly supportive of teachers. You may never recognize that the administrative system employed in every school is fraudulent, and designed to keep teachers in a state of servitude. Administrators lead through intimidation and intuition, corruption has permeated the process, and teachers are being used as scapegoats for the inefficiency of the administrative process. These are “garden variety” teachers who jumped ship because it pays better and got them out of the classroom, and they have no more expertise than the average teacher. In truth, they are mere titular leaders who role play the part of master teacher. The supervisory license was conferred upon them by college professors with no expertise, who can’t demonstrate the efficacy of their teaching methods. CYA has become their primary consideration, and the truth may never see the light of day because teachers have their jobs and their pensions tied up in this fraudulent game. I know it to be true, and teachers know it to be true, and yet it is never addressed in public. Have you the courage to state the truth, or at least allow me to tell it like it is. I taught for 28 years and have supervisory certification. Please check out newmoneyforoldrope.com and at least read the excerpts. The only people who count in the educational process are the teachers and their students. Everyone else is superfluous. It’s the message that most important to me, and not selling books. It’s my payback for an incredible career in education, and you may be the last hope for saving education and the teaching profession.
Respectfully, Ian Kay
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First, I think you’re painting with an awfully broad brush. Sure, there are plenty of administrators who rely on power and control and who know (or care) too little about teaching to be truly supporting. In fact, management in general in this country tends far too much to be based on top down mandates rather than bottom up support. But there are also plenty of supportive administrators too. Lower level admins are under the same kind of assault that teachers are and they too, just like teachers, have to decide how much to risk their jobs in pushing back to defend the people under them.
Second, I really don’t get what you’re arguing with Diane about. Nowhere ever has she supported any abusive administrative practices, whether by State Superintendents or by lowly building principals. In fact, one of Diane’s most common topics is the insidiousness of the Broad Academy where a lot of this abusive top-down “accountability” nonsense comes from. Some bad administrators may simply be not-great teachers who bailed, but a lot are graduates and adherents of the Broad Academy who don’t fall into power and control because they don’t have better skills, but because they’ve been encouraged to embrace it. Along with getting rid of Common Core, testing, etc, I daresay getting rid of the Broad Academy and similar unqualified administration mills would be among the top of Diane’s list of needs for saving public schools. Letting teachers teach is one of Diane’s mantras.
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Dienne,
I don’t know how many years you have been teaching, but when you have experienced as much as I have, you may change your tune. I respect Diane’s voice and agree with her on all the issues, but I’m pointing out that she is being remiss about not mentioning the extent of fraud, intimidation and rule by intuition on the part of all administrators. I’m not trying to sell a book. It’s the message that’s important to me. I can’t seem find a forum for my remarks, so I wrote a book. If you send me your address, I would gladly pay for a download of the book. Diane has built an extraordinary following, and if there were some way for teachers to express their views within this forum with respect to these issues that affect their personal lives, all those other matters would fall by the wayside. How would you feel if your child were to enter the teaching profession, and then fired in a short time because they were were not sufficiently capable of controlling the class. Not only have they wasted an enormous amount of money, but they will never get another shot at a teaching job because an administrator used them as a scapegoat for their inability to control the environment. How about the teacher who is in mid career and then fired for insubordination because of a disagreement with an administrator, a parent, or a board member. They can kiss their career and their pension goodbye, because they will never get another job in the profession. Administrators have been dodging their responsibility to maintain an atmosphere for teaching to take place. I could wax on and on about the fraud perpetrated on the taxpayer, but if you would only read the book, you might get a better understanding of the situation as it exists in every public school throughout the country. Note that the “butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker” are making decisions about educational matters that are completely out of their bailiwick, with the cooperation of these so called administrators. I’m speaking about the boards of education, who by the way are always at each others throats, full of dissension and complicit in corrupt activities. I’ve said too much for this response. I apologize for the degree of passion. My career was too incredible, and I am very dismayed by the de-professionalization of teachers and the obvious degree of racist obfuscation taking place as a consequence of the growth of charter and ‘for-profit’ ventures that are decimating the public schools. We need less focus on preaching to the choir and the tepid response to the most important issues facing the teaching profession, and more pungent responses to those who purport to represent teachers, yet do nothing but practice CYA in order to protect their fraudulent positions.
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Ian Kay,
There are two major themes on this blog:
1. The privatization of public education and its dangers to our democracy
2. The attacks on teachers and the danger to the teaching profession. I have posted many commentaries by teachers. I will continue to do so.
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I am very sorry for what has happened to you and I know it happens far too often at far too many schools. But again, you have no argument with Diane. This topic has been addressed a lot on these forums, both by Diane and by numerous commenters. The deprofessionalization of teaching is one of Diane’s top topics. It’s all part and parcel of the neoliberal assault on the middle class generally and teachers specifically. All the pieces fit together – Common Core, testing, VAM, micromanaging, unfunded mandates, large class sizes, poverty, race, etc. Diane has done a wonderful job putting those pieces together and fighting for teachers to have the right to teach with reasonable job security in order to create stability for students. No one is denying anything you’re saying and there’s certainly a lot more that could be said. But it’s important not to focus too much on any one area and lose sight of the forest for the trees.
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Dienne,
I’m just going to say, in defense of Ian, that administrators have been, on the whole, the Good Germans of Ed “Reform.” Period. If they were able to think independently and without direct instruction, or wanted to work with actual kids, then they’d be teachers. I’ve known too many mediocre educators jump ship for an office job in my long career, and save about three, I have no regard for them and their faux administrative “positions.” Oh…and they’re referred to as “Educational Leaders…” there’s a real problem with this scenario being played out in district after district across the country. Ian Kay is correct, and we should probably start listening to him instead of dismissing his views off hand.
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First, congratulations and thank you Diane. Your voice, and your willingness to share your big stage, has been so fundamental in heightening awareness and helping to bring a grassroots movement national stature. But do NOT, my friends, diminish what Ian Kay is saying. It certainly resonates with me, as I’m sure it will thousands of other educators across the country. His assessment of administrators is, on the whole, completely correct, save a brave, decent handful. While I don’t believe Diane has ignored the issue of bad administrators and their power over teachers, or their increasing numbers in reform era public schools (and universities), Ian does have a very important message to relay. The culture of a school often rests on these folks, and WE, as teachers, need to have a say in their hiring, and ALWAYS maintain a strong voice in the educational decisions made at the most local, building level. Just a personal reflection after many many years in the classroom.
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Bemo,
You are the only teacher to date who has the courage to give credence to my opinions. I’m not looking for recognition or even to sell books. I am frustrated because the truth about authoritarian leadership and the demeaning of teachers must be voiced in order for substantive change to take place. We must regain the status that the “teacher” once had. In order to do that, teachers must unite to demand respect, and that starts with replacing superfluous positions, eliminating parasitical jobs and the boards of education who do nothing but add yet another layer into what is already an unwieldy bureaucracy. I refer to them as “the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.” It took years of study and experience for me to make qualitative decision about education, yet these people with zero experience have been given the task of voting on the qualification of a superintendent and even curricular matters. How ludicrous. I do applaud Diane and her efforts with her blog, and I recognize that she has the ear of a great deal of teachers.I am asking her to begin a new discourse that promotes teacher supremacy in all matters of education. For starters. Let’s change the name of administrator to support personnel. They don’t administer education. You know it, and I know it. Let’s end the serfdom and intimidation, and elect our own teacher leaders who won’t play the role of our superiors. I do have started a blog by the way. Even my former colleagues are fearful of responding to my book, and you know why.
Come on diane, broaden the discussion. It’s time for a revolutionary change for the betterment of teachers and their students. Let’s change the narrative. You have narrowed the discussion and of late, it has become tepid and redundant. Once again, I apologize for my brash demeanor. It’s the gadfly in me.
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Way to go. Congratulatios, Diane.
And thank you.
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I wake up every morning to see what you post. We are at War, and you are the General! I”ll fight with you any day. Thank you for your service. Thank you for protecting our children.
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Must see news story / David Coleman must be stopped! http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/06/should-the-sat-be-part-of-school/395417/
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Thanks. I wish journalists would stop saying these product promotions in schools are “free”.
No, they’re not. The SAT is not “free” and time is not “free”. By setting this up as “free” to students they are devaluing their time and effort and misleading them. If they are watching Khan Academy test prep videos and taking online tests to prepare for the PSAT and SAT during school hours then they are not doing something else in high school that might have more value to them. That is not free to them. They paid for it and the one and only question should be is it worth the cost. No one asks that question because the product promoters insist time and labor are free, which is not true.
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Chiara: quite so.
Opportunity costs. By devoting limited and shrinking resources to try out standardized tests, e.g., the students lose precious learning time.
Which is why the rheephormsters want to shut up public school staffs. It’s their typical two-fer: extract as much $tudent $ucce$$ as possible while making public school education as empty and irrelevant and boring as possible.
Hence the importance of this blog in informing and, once people are informed, helping them move into action.
As homegrown talent reminds us:
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” [Mark Twain]
Color many of us gratified AND astonished.
😎
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I would go even further with high school students- what is it worth to them, the students?
Parents who pay for test prep conduct that after school. They’re not trading one thing for another. They get BOTH. Will these students get both or has someone other then them just made a decision to replace one thing with another?
I think Khan Academy now offers courses in financial literacy. I hope they aren’t teaching people that time and effort are “free”. It’s just incorrect.
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“The Colemanbot”
Designed in a lab at MIT
The Colemanbot for SAT
Unequaled for the standard test
Can beat Commander Data’s best
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Diane, you are the goddess and warrior of cognitive and educational justice, of equal opportunity, and of fiscal equality.
You have managed to transform millions of us into our own leaders, movers, and shakers. You are living, breathing history, and together, you and we make up the story of contemporary civil and human rights.
We all have been Ravitched, and thankfully so!
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21 million views and the best part… AND GROWING!
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❤
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Here, here! Let’s toast to 21 million more!
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You are clearly bitter and likely for good reason; but, administrators no less than teachers, have been intimidated by federal and state policies that make principals and other administrators enforcers of inane rules. College professors do not confer licenses. If you think that the only thing that matters in education are teachers and their students, not parents, not the communities in which schools are located, not the people who are implicated in funding or defunding schools, not the activists who wear multiple hats and are pushing for changes, and not the citizen who allows you to vent on this blog and who happens also to be a scholar with multiple honorary degrees for the depth of her understanding of issues in education, then it is probably well that you have retired. Write a book, start a blog, go fishing or surfing, smell the roses.
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The preceding was for Ian kay.
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Laura,
Please check out newmoneyforoldrope.com and at the very least, read the excerpts. I was an award winning teacher who was on a pedestal for 28 years, and if I don’t know what’s going on, then nobody does. Administrators and their mentors are acting the part of educational experts. I also have supervisory certification and was thoroughly disgusted with the process which had CYA as the Raison D’etre underlying every course. You are very wrong about my motivation, and the depth of my passion to right the wrongs thrust upon the teachers in the public schools, all to the detriment of their charges. The only people who count in the process of education are the teachers and their students. Everyone else is superfluous. There is plenty of funding for education. It’s being diverted by Bill Gates and the computer “wise guys” who recognized that the money is there in good times and in bad, and that their companies have limited potential for growth in the future. Their intent is to de-professionalize teachers and replace them with a digital process that will insure a steady income stream for ever. It’s especially important for Microsoft because the platform and operating system is not as “elegant” as Apple. Ask any apple user, and they will tell you. There is so much more to this story. Why are you so averse to allowing the conversation to reach into the hidden agendas that are ruining the education of so many students. If you don’t agree, then keep on voicing your opinion, but please don’t dismiss mine out of hand. I’m strident, but I mean well.
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I wish ed reformers would put up transcripts instead of video. I don’t think the public has time to watch them discuss the newest plans for our public schools in these endless roundtables. I like to skip right to the part where they announce whatever it is they’re selling because then I know where it came from when lawmakers parrot it a month later and it lands locally, as a bill, 6 months after that.
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Diane,
From my heart,
Thank you,
Be well, your efforts matter greatly.
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Great congratulations to YOU, Diane, our fearless leader! If we ARE turning back the tide, it is in no small part due to your laserlike focus, perseverance, intellect and fortitude. Thank you for helping us to save public education.
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I just wanted to thank you for this informative forum that supports teachers and the real public schools! Mille grazie to the nth power.
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Added congrats and thanks! Your blog is a daily place to find hope.
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Diane, your courage, dedication, and articulate vision are an inspiration to me. When my students encounter the edubabble of the conservatives and their corporate backers, I will frequently direct them to your blog, to help them separate the wheat from the chaff. What is happening in our country is an attempted coupe d’etat of public education. Your incisive point of view creates many opportunities for us stand against the plutocracy that threatens real learning for our children. My heartfelt thanks for your work.
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Great job Diane ..thanks for your tireless and passionate writing..:)
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“Fired Up”
What started as a flicker
Has grown into a flame
And full-on raging wildfire
Will follow-on the same
The point where fire lingers
About to flicker out
Has passed beyond their fingers
And catches all about
“Won’t Back Down”
Tide is turning
Going out
Parents rising
With a shout
Organizing
Little doubt
Leaders learning
Of a rout
“Stating the Obvious”
The Emperor has no clothes
And little boy has spoken
It’s logical to suppose
That school “reform” is broken
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Thank you on behalf of teachers, students and parents who are involved in our nation’s public schools. Your blog has given everyone a place to become informed. We knew that when parents became informed on what was really going on in public education there would be push-back on reforms. Now that the gate is open, we can only hope it continues.
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Congrats to 21!
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Would have liked to pop open a bottle of champagne for you and Karen Lewis!
Countdown to 22!
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Cannot thank you enough, Diane. I was so hoping you’d start your own blog (after reading your Education Week discussions w/Deborah), & the timing was just right (I’d just retired &, therefore, had more time to read your numerous daily posts (don’t know how you manage to write so many in 1 day, but glad that you do) plus other great, local ed. bloggers (Fred & Mike Klonsky, T.B. Furman, Glen Brown, John Dillon & Ken Previti {in FL, but STILL an ILL-Annoysian!}). Enjoy the weekend in Chicago, & hope it stops raining!
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Unfortunately, we do not seem to be enacting positive change in NY. High-stakes testing just became 50% of a teacher’s evaluation. Please work some of your magic in NY. I fear for our children and our educators.
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