Fred Klonsky came to hear me lecture at Elmhurst College, near Chicago, and writes about how my last book helped him argue against some of the harmful policies mandated from the state and federal government.

He goes on to write that teachers are more than recipients of policy, bad or good, and I agree with him. But as I say in the book, it is important to stop doing the wrong things so that it is possible to start doing the right things–and to allow teachers to teach.

Klonsky writes:

Back when I was a grad student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, my advisor and mentor, Professor Bill Schubert, gave me (or maybe loaned it to me and I didn’t give it back) an old beat up copy of the Art of Teaching by Gilbert Highet.

Highet, a British educator, defined what he thought makes a good teacher.

It was someone who knew his or her students. Liked them. Knew their subject matter well. And had a passion for what they taught.

To that, I would add this.

Teachers are more than the beneficiaries of good education policies. We are more than the victims of bad education policies.

It is true about students and parents too.

We are not passive recipients of policies. We are not empty vessels.

Good teachers are engaged in their classroom, their schools, their districts, their unions and in their world.

Books like Ravitch’s focus on the policies.

I remember Highet because he focused on the art of teaching.

Both are important.

I hope Ravitch would agree.

Fred, I agree.

I spoke at Stanford on September 30, and afterwards there was a panel discussion with Stanford’s Linda Darling-Hammond and Hoover Institution economist Eric Hanushek, moderated by veteran journalist Peter Shrag. There was a commentary afterward by doctoral student Channa Mae Cook, who had been a charter principal in New Orleans.

I have known all of the panelists except for Channa Mae Cook for many years. Rick Hanushek and I became good friends at the Hoover Institution, but not we are on opposite sides of the fence. He thinks the nation is in terrible trouble because of our international test scores; I don’t. From my perspective as a historian, I recall 1983 when “A Nation at Risk” issued dire predictions about the future because our international scores were so terrible. I think our biggest problem is our indifference to poverty. The nations that outperform us have reduced their child poverty rate, and it shows in the well-being of their children, as well as their test scores.

It was a good discussion, and Rick was a good sport, knowing that it was basically two against one. He held his own very well.

Linda is fabulous. She has an amazing grasp of teaching and learning. I have been urging her to learn how to tweet and to start blogging, but thus far to no effect.

Since my earlier post of Jim Horn’s thoughtful review contained an incomprehensible autocorrect error, I am reposting here. Haste makes errors. My stubborn insistence on doing everything on my own comes with a price. My apologies.

Jim Horn has been a thorn in the side of the know-nothings for many years. He’s smart, he’s tough, and he has a long memory.

In this review of “Reign of Error,” he reminds me of my own long sojourn in the wilderness of bad ideas. Now, I am happy to say, he welcomes me into the fold as an ally in the fight to preserve public education.

He generously concludes:

“It took a long time for Dr. Ravitch to break clear of the corporatist influence that has controlled the increasingly antiquarian version of education reform since the coming of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Whether her conversion in 2007 resulted from the gentle persuasion of researchers like Richard Rothstein or from the fierce prodding of researcher-advocates like Gerald Bracey and Susan Ohanian, Diane has made up for lost time since regaining her sight after being struck blind on the road out of DC. Whatever happens over the next ten or twenty years in education policy, her place is secure, just after six years of battle, as the single individual who most influenced the eventual outcome if parents and teachers and students continue to heed the call for the restoration and renewal of public schools free of high stakes tests for all children who choose a high quality and free education. Ravitch has brought the word—now it is time to act.”

Blogger David Chura, who blogs at Kids in the System here reviews Reign of Error. This is what David does and has done: “For the last 40 years I’ve worked with at-risk kids, kids “in the system”–foster care, group homes, homeless shelters; psych hospitals, drug rehab; special education, alternative high schools.”

When he picked up the book, he expected to hear more bad news.

But this book is not a lament. Instead, in lean, measured prose Diane Ravitch addresses the many erroneous claims made by the “education reform” movement and then presents a realistic and humane plan for true educational improvement.

Ravitch doesn’t, however, just say that the reformers’ claims are wrong. That’s too easy, and Ravitch refuses the easy way out. She recognizes that the public is confused. For over a decade, it has been told by the government that our children’s schools are in a dangerously sorry state. The Bush Administration’s major tactic in presenting education reform (among other issues) was to repeatedly insist that something was “fact” despite solid contrary evidence until the public believed it. Unfortunately the Obama Administration has continued this same tactic in its education agenda.

In an effort to clear up some of the public’s confusion and to address the reformers’ accusations and claims, Reign of Error examines a wide variety of topics such as who constitutes what Ravitch calls “the corporate reformers,” the validity of high-stakes testing, the expanding achievement gap, charter schools and vouchers, and local school control. For each topic the book presents an exhaustive overview of studies, graphs and statistics that demonstrates why the reformers’ statements are false, oversimplified and in some cases, downright wrong thinking.

Yet behind all the statistics and the arguments laid out point by counterpoint, demonstrating the best of academic writing—no point left unsubstantiated—is a passionate and compassionate advocate for teachers, students and our public school system. Although the tone of Ravitch’s writing is professional, it is refreshing to see her own exasperation occasionally break through her usual cool demeanor when, for example, in writing about value-added assessment of schools and teachers she comments, “Stated as politely as possible, value-added assessment is bad science. It may even be junk science.” Having worked with at risk students my whole teaching career I couldn’t help but cheer that “dukes up,” “let’s take it to the parking lot” slam, and wonder if “bad science” was as close to “bullshit” as she (or her editor) could allow.

Michael Krasny is one of the best book interviewers in the nation. I love to appear on his show because he asks good questions. And that brings out the best in me.

This reader thinks you should listen:

“This might not be news to Diane’s readers, but I wanted to mention that her September 30 interview on KQED’s Forum with Michael Krasny is well worth a listen. You can find it on the NPR smart phone app or listen here: http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201309300900

“I liked this one especially because in addition to the powerful indictment of “reform” the world needs to hear, there were some fairly nuanced questions and answers.”

Accountable Talk, a popular education blogger, here reviews Reign of Error.

He or she writes:

The book is a thorough excoriation of the reform movement. Starting with who the major players are and how they stand to benefit financially from their “reforms”, Ms. Ravitch unravels, one by one, all the myths spun by the corporate raiders looking to cash in on public education dollars. She lays bare the truth about all the favorite tropes of the reform movement, such as test scores, the achievement gap, PISA, high school and college graduation rates,
merit pay, and many others….

Perhaps even more important than her expose of the reformers themselves, Ravitch points the way forward. She devotes 100 pages to proposed solutions to what ails public schools, all of which make perfect sense. From pre-natal care to wraparound services, Ms. Ravitch offers common sense solutions that move us away from the blame game so beloved by reformers. She clearly sees teachers as part of the solution, rather than the problem.

I love the fact that his book is coming out at the same time that Bill de Blasio seems poised to become mayor of NYC as the “anti-Bloomberg”. It may just be that the pendulum, which has so long swung towards the reformers, may at last be swinging its way back to teachers, students, parents, and other real stakeholders in the education system.

Louisiana Educator is a blog written by one of that state’s finest educators, now retired, Mike Deshotels. He reviews Reign of Error here.

It is hard to pick a single excerpt from his review because every paragraph is compelling. (I tried but was not very successful.)

Deshotels writes:

In this, her latest meticulously researched book, Ravitch describes the myths upon which the current corporate reform of our education system is based. This expert historian of education carefully discredits the assumptions upon which the current education reform movement is based, and explains how extremely harmful much of the reform movement can be to our education system.

The first chapter of Reign of Error is titled: Our Schools Are at Risk. The author explains how major power brokers including some of the richest persons on the planet are proposing radical changes to our system of public education based on a manufactured crisis in student achievement. These influential power brokers propose to magically cure the ills of our education system with various forms of privatization. Ravitch explains chapter by chapter how the cure is much worse than the alleged illness. Many of these ill conceived proposals have already been adopted by Louisiana’s legislature and our state has become a leader in the corporate reform movement.

Dr Ravitch exposes the charlatans of the education reform movement for what they really are; non educators who have figured out how to make a buck on education by scaring the American public into believing that our present public education system is sub-standard in comparison to that of other industrialized countries. The so called “reformers” would have the American public believe that professional educators are really just a bunch of slackers protected by powerful unions who care little about preparing our children to be high achievers in the world education competition.

Their solution is to destroy the teacher unions, do away with teacher job protections and fire teachers who are not able or willing to raise student test scores in the very limited curriculum which they have chosen to emphasize in our schools. At the same time, the corporate reformers propose to transform education in our country into a system of autonomous schools often run by private groups or entrepreneurs who compete for students and taxpayer funding. Public school parents are to be given the right to select any school they feel best meet their child’s needs. Somehow this competitive environment with achievement results measured by expensive and oppressive government imposed testing in a few preferred skills will transform our entire educational system into one of the best in the world. Ravitch shows that none of this transformation is based on scientific principles of education practice. It is all based upon mostly dis-proven tactics such as merit pay, virtual Internet instruction, vouchers, and a depressingly restricted curriculum.

The danger to our education system Ravitch points out, is the opportunity and incentive for corruption, cheating, and extreme profiteering by large corporations as well as numerous small time “rainmakers”. Entrepreneurs will use our schools to pocket our tax dollars while transforming our schools into dreary test-prep factories treating all children like identical raw materials instead of the wonderfully complex individuals they are. Meanwhile the teaching profession will be demoralized, and replaced by low paid “test teachers” who will no longer stimulate the creativity in our young people, a trait that has made our country a world leader in innovation.

Here in Louisiana we have already seen a major demoralization of our teaching profession exemplified by increased early retirements of some our most respected teachers. The diversion of public funds to vouchers, charters and course choice and the exemption of the privatizers’ employees from the Louisiana retirement system is already causing serious damage to our public education system.

The latter part of the book proposes real solutions to closing the student achievement gap and for truly improving and enhancing our educational system based upon sound principals of economic, social and educational practice.

If this book had been written specifically to address the challenges educators now face in Louisiana it could not have been a more perfect guide. I strongly recommend this book to all my readers, educators and parents who want to be accurately informed about the real threats to our education system. It is definitely not too late to change the course of this education “deform” movement, but we must begin now to properly arm ourselves with the facts and join this battle for our schools and the teaching profession.

The blogger at South Bronx School got an audacious idea after reading “Reign of Error.”

He decided to rewrite Mel Brooks’ comedy “The Producers,” only this time Max Bialystock is fleecing investors not in a Broadway play, but in a charter school.

He writes:

“Max Bialystock: Don’t you see, darling Bloom, glorious Bloom? It’s so simple. STEP ONE: We found the worst charter school ever , a surefire flop. STEP TWO: I raise a million bucks. Lots of little old ladies, NYCDOE, hedge fund managers, foundations created by billionaires, lawyers,Wall Street, presidents, mayors . STEP THREE: You go back to work on the books, two of them – one for the government, one for us. You can do it, Bloom; you’re a wizard! STEP FOUR: We open a charter in the South Bronx. STEP FIVE, We act like we care, like we really believe the crap we’re laying on the public And before you can say STEP SIX we kick all the kids who are not doing well and keeping up !!! STEP SEVEN: We take our million bucks and fly to *Rio!*

“I wish this deform movement were a Mel Brooks comedy, but it is turning into a Shakespearean tragedy and right now the only ones ahead are the money people.

“I’m now more scared than ever for the children, the families, the communities, and the real educators of this country. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what has been done to destroy education in this country. My knowledge just scratched the surface before reading “Reign of Error.”

This is Mike Klonsky’s review of “Reign of Error.” I love his
metaphor of the Texas Paul Revere. I remember when I first met Mike
Klonsky. I wanted to find someone in Chicago who would help me
navigate the city to introduce my last book, “The Death and Life of
the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are
Undermining Education.” My blogging partner Deborah Meier
introduced me by email to Mike. I vaguely remembered his name from
the 1960s as a leader of the radical Students for a Democratic
Society. I googled and discovered he was one of the top leaders and
I thought, well, this will be a new experience for me! And indeed
it was. Mike and his wife Susan turned out to be wonderful, smart,
thoughtful people. They brought me to DePaul to speak and to the
University of Illinois. Mike is a great guy. I am grateful to
Debbie for introducing me to him. The world changes, and we must
change with it. Not abandoning our principles but remaining open to
evidence, experience, reality, and new ideas. Mike is no longer a
wild radical, and I am no longer a hard-edged conservative. We are
friends.