I am very excited!
My new book was just announced!
The title is: SLAYING GOLIATH: The Impassioned Fight to Defeat the Privatization Movement and to Save America’s Public Schools.
It will be published on January 14, 2020, by Knopf, the most prestigious publisher in America. The editor is the brilliant Victoria Wilson, who is also an author, having written the definitive biography of Barbara Stanwyck.
In Slaying Goliath, you will read about the heroes of the Resistance, those who stood up to Big Money and defeated disruption in their schools, their communities, their cities, their states.
It is a book of inspiration and hope.
It shows how determined citizens—parents, students, teachers, everyone—can stand up for democracy, can stand up to the billionaires, and win.
Please consider pre-ordering your copy so you can be sure to get the first edition.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Congratulations! (And just in time for the primary.)
Diane Congratulations! And thank you for leading the way. CBK
Man, I gotta wait 6 months?!?!?! Dude!!! 😉
Excellent, Di. Thank you for writing this, I’m SO looking forward to reading it!!!
I preordered a week ago and can’t wait to read it. Your blog has been a magnet that has gathered thousands of us, and has done so much more than inform.
My parents ran a bookstore for many years that was much loved. It was a gathering place for readers, writers and those that enjoyed wrestling with the issues of the day. I would have never thought a blog could provide anything like that — but yours has. Through your consistency, depth of understanding, and persistence, you have been a true North star.
The powers behind privatizing our schools have done their best to ignore our efforts to organize. Your book promises to tell our stories, and help us see ourselves as we take on this challenge. Thank you for being more than a witness.
Dear Anthony,
Thank you for comparing this blog to the legendary Cody’s Bookstore in Berkeley. I am flattered by the comparison. That was the place where people gathered not just to buy books but to dream about a better world.
Congratulations, Diane.
Wonderful news! Look forward to reading it.
Great news! Can’t wait until January!
Congrats!
Another achievement. Good news and great timing. Congratulations.
A book of heroes, for heroes, by a real hero. Sounds like literary democracy to me. I can’t wait!
Congratulations and thank you for your inspirational example and indefatigable defense of public schools and public teachers. I can’t wait to read it.
indefatigable is right!
Indefbloggable : indefinite blogging
Indefbloggable
Diane Ravitch
Indefbloggable
Blogging habit’s
Quite unstopable
Endless blog
A blogging storm
Cutting fog
Of school deform
I guess that would probably be “able to be blogged indefinitely”
“All metaphor breaks down somewhere. That is the beauty of it,” wrote Robert Frost in his essay “Education by Poetry.” Metaphors work, of course, because they create little models or pictures that lend to abstract ideas (e.g., beauty, uniqueness) associations we have with the concrete (e.g., the rose). My beloved is a rose–beautiful, singular. The German word Bild has just the right complex of meaning to describe metaphor–picture/model/representation. A metaphor is a Bild.
There’s no doubt on my part who the David is in this picture. Diane Ravitch, thank you. However, that’s not how SHE sees it or what her title means. Diane is too mindful of others’ contributions to cast herself so, but I will, damn it, because after she saw the problems with Ed Deform and started fighting against it, after she had her Saul on the road to Damascus moment, she made mighty enemies of former friends and colleagues, and for a long, long time, she worked alone–a single person at her keyboard against armies employed by astroturf organizations created by a murder of billionaires. I am inspired by her courage, born of outrage on behalf of poor teachers and poorer kids, and by her seemingly endless energy. Need a pithy argument against ageism? I can give you one in two words: Diane Ravitch. I admit it. I am not ashamed to still have heroes.
But here’s where the metaphor as I use it (Diane as the David) breaks down: behind her–behind that courageous voice who has for years now taken on the giants of Education Deform–is now a ragtag army that Diane has built, an army of truly impressive individuals with a common cause–free, equitable, democratic, universal, public education–fighting on many fronts, and in this book, Dr. Ravitch tells THEIR STORIES–how they stood up in battle after battle and won. As Diane Ravitch sees it, THEY are the Davids–all these courageous, scrappy underdogs. David 1, David 2, David 3. The stories in this book are extraordinarily inspiring. If you love tales about plucky underdogs who win against enormous odds–and who doesn’t?–you’re going to love this book.
You are going to love this book.
And as others have commented above, her book arrives just in time to roil the debates preceding the 2010 Presidential election!!!!
Let them roil!
I said “Saul on the road to Damascus moment,” but that’s not really a good analogy. It was not, with her, a sudden conversion, an epiphany. What happened with Dr. Ravitch, I think, is what happens with scholars who learn a lot–the evidence builds, and at some point, it is so overwhelming that they are forced by the facts to reject the accepted paradigm.
As Thomas Henry Huxley put it: “Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads or you shall learn nothing.” That’s what a real scholar does. That’s what Diane Ravitch did. The evidence against the Ten Commandments of Neoliberal Education Deform became overwhelming. And she had the courage to follow the evidence where it led–to the real root causes of educational disparity–poverty and inequity.
cx: poverty, racism, and inequity
David is David Coleman, right?
“Night on David’s Mountain”
Dave came down from the mountain
With Common Core in tow
He’d drunk from the Magic Fountain
Which made the fiction flow
“A Whale of a Tale”
The David tells a tale
Both fanciful and grim:
The Common Core’s a whale
That swallows Huck and Jim
“Breech and Teach”
David Coleman was the mother
Of the Common Core
Billy Gates was midwife brother
Really nothing more
Birth was breech and babe was ill
But David sent it school-ward
Under care of Midwife Bill
As only crazy fool would
Nope. Different David, SomeDAM. Definitely NOT Lord Coleman, appointed by Master Gates to be the decider for the rest of us.
DAM
You just ruined the image I had in my head of the courageous, loin-cloth outfitted David Coleman, sling shot in hand, slaying the mighty Goliath (Diane Ravitch)
David Coleman v. Diane Ravitch. That would be like watching Tom Cruz debate tensor geometry with Edward Whitten.
SomeDAM: That’s a pretty funny image!!! LMAO.
David vs Diane
David Coleman
Fought Goliath
Common Core man
Doth defyeth:
Rhyme and reason
Common Sense
David pleasin
Gatesly gents
Underdog
From College Board
Fought her blog
And blogging hoard
David Coleman vs Diane Ravitch
(Note the blogging hoards behind her)
Make that blogging horde
I love Emily Dickinson.
I’m David! Who are you?
Are you – David – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Coleman, Goliath!
How public – like a Frog –
To have one’s name called out – the livelong June –
To Diane’s admiring blog!
Left Coast: Awesome!
Lct
I love it.
But might I make one minor suggestion/substitution for the second line?
Are you *** STUPID*** too?
I still have the inverse David (Coleman) on the brain
I know. It’s difficult to get Coleman offf the brain, powerful megalomaniac as he is.
I have mixed feelings about the new SAT affluence scores. This is a response, ofc, to the justified criticism that the SAT should be called the Scholastic Affluence Test, and it’s just the latest in a long line of attempts on the part of the College Board to provide yet another justification for continued use of its test. In fact, a history of the test could be written as one of successive attempts to justify the test in the face of overwhelming critiques. This is akin, in research, to starting with the conclusion you want to reach and then kludging together some phony data and justification to support it. At first the test was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test because it was supposed to measure aptitude for college. There was just two problems: a) It failed to predict success or failure after the first semester of college, and b) high-school grades were far better predictors of overall college success. So, they renamed it the Scholastic Assessment Test. on the theory that it assessed what students had learned. But it didn’t do that either, for it didn’t cover the range of learnings in K-12. So they renamed it the Scholastic Reasoning Test and then just the SAT. Now, under Coleman, it has been revamped and Common Cored. Which is absurd because the Common [sic] Core [sic] ELA “standards” are vague, abstract, absurdly broad statements of skills that leave out the CONTENT of ELA and are too vague, abstract, and broad to be operationalized sufficiently to be tested reliably and validly. I think that Coleman should have renamed it the Scholastic Common Core and Affluence Trick Test, or SCCAATT. Fortunately, a lot of colleges and universities are wising up and dropping it as an admissions requirement. A century of this scam is enough.
cx: There WERE just two problems, ofc. Yikes. I made an incomplete edit to the post in progress. Oh for a corrections feature on WordPress!
I like the SCCAT acronym. It expresses the true meaning so we’ll.
College Board is like a shark that needs to keep moving to keep alive.
If College Board ever stops changing the name of the SAT, they will surely die
If the College Board ever stops charging fees for all their crap, they will also surely die.
My niece just had to pay $20 to College Board for some sort of family financial summary form in order to even be considered for financial aid from a college she applied to. She had already provided all the same information that was in the College Board’s form, but for some reason, the college nonetheless required she get the form from College Board.
I tell ya, that organization is one of the biggest scams going. I’d like to see a Presidential candidate state that he or she would open up an investigation into the entire College Board operation, and at the very least reassess their nonprofit status. The College Board has revenue of nearly a billion dollars and pays many of their executives several hundred thousand dollars a year. It makes a mockery of the entire nonprofit category.
It certainly does. It’s obscene.
College Board is also a hedge fund, with nearly a quarter billion dollars stashed in offshore tax Haven’s.
https://thecriticalreader.com/the-college-board-is-a-non-profit-its-also-a-hedge-fund/
Aie yie yie! It gets worse and worse.
From Wikipedia on College Boar
College Board also offers the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, a financial aid application service that many institutions use in determining family contribution and financial assistance packages. This is a fee-based service to institutions. Ironically, students also must pay a fee to submit it to a school.”
Nothing ironic about it at all.
It’s not an irony. It’s a scam.
But of course, the nitwit who wrote that for Wikipedia is too dumb to understand what it means.
cx: to burn up in the sun, ofc
You can go onto Wikipedia and edit this, SomeDAM. Or add a comment, or post a challenge.
Mercedes Schneider investigated just HOW profitable College Board has become for its executives, many of whom get $400, 000 per year or more
David Coleman got $ 1.7 million in total compensation in 2016
Yes, you read that right. $1.7 million
ABelow is the 2016 total compensation for some more well-paid College Board officers and employees (current and former) each of whom lists 40 hrs/wk:
James Montoya, Chief of Membership, Higher Ed: $436K (6 mos.)
Theresa Shaw, SVP, Chief Info Officer: $477K
Cyndie Schmeiser, Chief of Assessment: $491K
Steven Titan, VP, Treasurer: $512K (3 mos.) ($277 of which was severance pay)
Peter Schwartz, General Counsel and Chief Admin Officer: $442K
Robert Gordon, SVP, Finance and Global Strategy: $433K
Martha Stratis, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer: $312K (9 mos.)
Ericka Miller, Secretary and Chief of Membership $200K (6 mos.)
Dorothy Sexton, VP, Secretary: $284K (one week: 1/1/16 to 1/7/16)
Trevor Packer, SVP, AP Programs: $479K
Steve Bumbaugh, SVP, College and Career Access: $375K
John McGrath, SVP, Communications, $537K
Connie Betterton, VP, Higher Ed Access: $369K
Matthew Costello, VP, Assessment Operations: $373K
Gregory Walker, VP, Midwest Regional Office: $376K
Sean Buckley, SVP, Research: $412K
Todd Huston, SVP, State and District Partners: $455K (“former,” still paid)
Neil Lane, General Counsel: $476K (“former,” still paid)
One more, for 2 hrs/wk:
Paul Sechrist, former trustee: $52K
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/the-college-board-nonprofit-oh-the-money-one-can-make/
$52,000 for two hours a week!
That’s $500 an hour for those who have become math impaired by David Coleman and Jason Zimba’s abortion, Common Core.
Susan Pimentel as well–another person responsible for the abomination that is the Common [sic] Core [sic]. And those numbers are truly shocking. The “nonprofit” College Board. What a freaking bad joke.
Another GREAT piece by Mercedes Schneider. The College Board is as [non]profitable as was the Trump Family Charity.
You just gotta love the job titles of a couple of those College Board execs
“College and Career Address”
“Higher Ed Address”
They got that right.
College Board is all about allowing and barring “access” for millions of students each year: access to college, access to financial aid and access to future careers.
They are a gatekeeper , who demands a toll to even be considered for admission.
David Coleman is the chief gatekeeper, taking pleasure in turning students away who do not meet his ridiculous “standards” and profiting handsomely from tolls paid by poor students and families.
The foljscwho work at College Board are completely unethical.
Chief Parent Pocketbook Access Officer
Executive Vice President for Statistical Obfuscation and Equivocation
New Names for the SAT Workshop Director
VP for Oleaginous Gratuities, Political Division
VP for Oleaginous Gratuities, Higher Education Division
The foregoing is the list of job titles for The College Cored, Bob Shepherd’s new [non]profit organization, publishers of the Varsity Blues College Admissions Examination for Rich White Kids.
College and Career ACCESS
Higher Ed ACCESS
Not “address”
Idiot programmer who programmed self correct strikes again.
Welcome to the age of SkyNET. All your base are belong to us.
Diane’s book- a spectacular event for the common good.
The reviews should credit Diane as one of democracy’s most important heroes.
Few have such compassion, conviction, and courage
Congratulations, Diane. THANK YOU. You are remarkable.
Goliath: seeing the danger for exactly what it is.
Thanks so much Dr. Ravitch. YOU have name recognition as well as expertise. PERHAPS SOME people will take note. My concern: my brother, a navy veteran used to quote: don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up. WAY too many people now follow this line of “reasoning”.
BUT
You and others continue the fight. The war on truth is frightening. It is imperative that the fight against that ignorancce continue. and you are leading it. The rest of us deeply appreciate your expertise and efforts. “I have not yet begun to fight”. The pen is mightier than the sword. Keep it up. We are behind you.
Actually, the newest rendition of the saying is “Don’t confuse my mind. My fact is already made up!”
lol
¡Felicitaciones!
Dearest Dr. Ravitch:
I appreciate your dedication to write many valuable books, I would like to order one for myself and two for someone in Canada who are teachers and retire within 2019.( please send me within my allowance of $ US currency 1000.00 dollars including postage.)
I will follow up info, but I will send you money order as soon as I have info from Robin on your behalf. I am so thrilled to read this book before I depart this Earth. Thank you for your hard work and the assistance from teacher Bob Shepherd as you mentioned in your previous post.
Respectfully yours,
May King, your faithful reader in Canada
Dearest May,
Please do not send me any money! You can order the book from a local bookstore or online at amazon.com or barnes and noble or many other outlets.
Bob Shepherd was my personal shepherd during the editing process. Bless him.
Dearest Dr. Ravitch:
Thank you Dr. Ravitch for a clear info. I was rush to have my order with you so I did not read the post except the announcement.
I hope that the editor is the brilliant Victoria Wilson forgives me. Yes,
I will definitely buy whatever edition of the book without the need to pre-order with my address to Amazon, Honestly, I do not like Amazon.
I will buy when my friend helps me to pre-order it on line from their own address on my behalf. I pray that all ordinary people will be blessed to read this special book to be awakening.
Respectfully yours,
Your faithful reader, May King
Thank you, May.
Very cool. Some good news after a long day.
Awesome! I thought you were going to take a sabbatical to write the book, instead it seems you have just done double duty. You are an inspiration to all! I am sure your running buddy helped a great deal too. I
Best to you both!
Your books define the story of the war n public education. Incredible.
Congratulations!!!!!
To whoever believes in God and Karma:
I have survived many dangers in the past 60 years and even now. Yes, my mind is ready made up that I admit “good deed returns good deed” and “evil follows evil” is real and is true regardless deed is trivial or grave.
I have had two strokes and definitely I will have many UNKNOWN transient ischemic attacks in my brain WITHOUT any sign. I imagine that I had done so many ignorant bad deeds in the past many millions incarnated lives.
So, I hope that at least I have made a commitment to be a good person in my own opinion from this life onward by sharing what I have suffered or I have won in my life with people who interact with me by sincerity.
In short,
1) Eat well, sleep well and have a regular bowel movement = healthy = basic body
2) Learn the root of every aspect (in all subjects from music to science with a contentment) = basic mind
3) Do daily work for survival with HUMANITY SPIRIT CONCEPT = basic spirit
We can have our basic body, mind, and spirit to be enlightenment from this basic level. I sincerely wish all sentient human beings will achieve their ultimate goals in their own path without abusing their strength, power, or wealth to interfere others by masking science and religion on the helpless behalf. Back2basic
I can really relate to your title, Diane. Last week, after I finally succeeded in beating back the three federal government agencies that took away my money for years and effectively made me homeless, a social worker, who was there to provide guidance and support to me when I spoke to IRS, publicly referred to me as a David who beat Goliath.
Neither of us had anticipated that the matter would be ending in my favor then and there. We really thought it was going to continue for a very long time before getting resolved, even though it had already been going on for 7 years. I think I was lucky though, because that social worker who helped me is also a very insightful and kind rabbi, plus I got a really nice IRS worker, who did very thorough background checks. Based on recent changes of behavior at the other government agencies involved, I believe she went to bat for me there.
Sometimes, when dealing with government bureaucracies that come off as Goliath, you can get down to individual people who are quite different from the evil behemoth where they work. (This might not apply to privatization though, since there are so many billionaires calling the shots, so I am very glad that you are still serving as David in that cause.)