I wrote this post while waiting to board my flight from Denver to Seattle. I forgot the link! No excuses! I also forgot to add that Leonie Haimson is a hero of public education, a woman who has repeatedly, courageously stood up to the rich and powerful on behalf of children. She was long ago added to the honor roll of this blog. She has advocated, litigated, testified, organized, written, researched, done whatever she could to defend the rights of children, and all without compensation. Her conscience is her guide.

Here is the original post, link added.

I have known Leonie HAimson for nearly 10 years. She is the most articulate, best informed, most relentless champion of children, families, and public schools that I know.

If the Gates-Murdoch data mining operation should fail nationally, Leonie did it. She has fought unceasingly for reduced class size, parent involvement, the reduction of high-stakes testing, and evidence-based policy. She does all this without any compensation.

In the fight to reclaim our public schools, she is a true hero. I do not use the word lightly.

Here is her review of “Reign of Error.”

I have known Leonie HAimson for nearly 10 years. She is the most articulate, best informed, most relentless champion of children, families, and public schools that I know.

If the Gates-Murdoch data mining operation should fail nationally, Leonie did it. She has fought unceasingly for reduced class size, parent involvement, the reduction of high-stakes testing, and evidence-based policy. She does all this without any compensation.

In the fight to reclaim our public schools, she is a true hero. I do not use the word lightly.

Here is her review of “Reign of Error.”

I was thrilled to receive this wonderful review by Jonathan Kozol in the Sunday New York Times.

Reporting because I forgot the link!

Peter DeWitt is an outstanding elementary school principal in upstate New York. He has established a reputation as a dedicated and kind person who cares about the social and emotional health of his students, as much as (perhaps even more than) their test scores. He also happens to be a man of great integrity and courage.

In this post, he reviews Reign of Error.

He writes:

In Reign of Error, Diane begins by focusing on the misinformation that is provided by “Reformers” when it comes to corporate reform, graduation rates, and the “failures” of the public school system. She takes on her critics like Michelle Rhee (StudentsFirst) and Teach for America. In addition, she provides a much more holistic view of charter schools; how they began and where they are now.

Diane doesn’t focus solely on what is wrong with Corporate Reform, she also explains what we need to do differently to make the teaching profession stronger. Yes, Diane Ravitch believes we have room for improvement. She understands, as a historian and professor, we all need to strive for continuous improvement. She just doesn’t believe you have to brow beat people to get there.

And he adds:

Too often the educational conversation is controlled by those with the most money. Teachers, principals, students and parents may not believe they can compete with the power and money that is controlling public education, but with Diane’s voice they certainly have a better chance than they think.

Thank you, Peter. Education policy should be in the hands of those who are tasked with implementing it and those who have spent years teaching children. The current model of top-down mandates from the U.S. Department of Education and Congress is harming children, teachers, and schools.

We are citizens. We must stand up for what is right, not for what is expedient.

Peter DeWitt is an outstanding elementary school principal in upstate New York. He has established a reputation as a dedicated and kind person who cares about the social and emotional health of his students, as much as (perhaps even more than) their test scores. He also happens to be a man of great integrity and courage.

In this post, he reviews Reign of Error.

He writes:

In Reign of Error, Diane begins by focusing on the misinformation that is provided by “Reformers” when it comes to corporate reform, graduation rates, and the “failures” of the public school system. She takes on her critics like Michelle Rhee (StudentsFirst) and Teach for America. In addition, she provides a much more holistic view of charter schools; how they began and where they are now.

Diane doesn’t focus solely on what is wrong with Corporate Reform, she also explains what we need to do differently to make the teaching profession stronger. Yes, Diane Ravitch believes we have room for improvement. She understands, as a historian and professor, we all need to strive for continuous improvement. She just doesn’t believe you have to brow beat people to get there.

And he adds:

Too often the educational conversation is controlled by those with the most money. Teachers, principals, students and parents may not believe they can compete with the power and money that is controlling public education, but with Diane’s voice they certainly have a better chance than they think.

Thank you, Peter. Education policy should be in the hands of those who are tasked with implementing it and those who have spent years teaching children. The current model of top-down mandates from the U.S. Department of Education and Congress is harming children, teachers, and schools.

We are citizens. We must stand up for what is right, not for what is expedient.

“Reign of Error,” released September 17, debuts at #10 on New York Times’ bestseller list!

Thanks to all the fabulous education bloggers who spread the word.

Ken Previti, retired teacher, warns readers not to underline sentences in “Reign of Error.” He says it makes the book too messy and you will run out of highlighter anyway!

He says, agreeing with me, that the corporate reform project has used deceptive language to “brand” the junk food it is selling.

This is a quote he selects from the book:

“‘Reform’ is really a misnomer, because the advocates for this cause seek not to reform public education but to transform it into an entrepreneurial sector of the economy.“

This is his response:
The entire purpose of starting and naming my blog, Reclaim Reform, is based on this. The appropriation of the word “reform” was done intentionally by a well planned, well funded branch of the corporate education reform propaganda machine (think tanks). We must become aware of this, and we must reclaim reform.
We all know that the chemical poisons used as food preservatives and flavor enhancers are destructive to children but profitable to prepared food manufacturers, yet Americans are coerced into feeding their children this corporate education reform junk food if they expect to have their children take part in today’s American childhood pop-culture diet. High stakes testing has become the much advertised not-so-secret ingredient in the educational junk food that poisons our children.  Parents and children sense this is not good for them.
Who is it good for? The billionaire vulture philanthropists and tax free villainthropist foundations who give hundreds of millions of dollars to their self proclaimed crusade to change the education of our children – as they continue to profit by billions of dollars. No matter how it is worded or spun, they have monetized children and depersonalized education – for profit.

Blogger Perdido Street School reviewed “Reign of Error” and said that he would be giving it to his friends and family who got their views from Oprah and the Today Show. He might have added NBC’s “Education Nation” and many other outlets in the mainstream media that spread misinformation about our nation’s public schools.

He writes:

Those are the people we want to read this book and to become familiar with Ravitch’s arguments.

Those are the people the reformers want to keep fooled into believing charter schools, merit pay, online schooling, firing teachers and all the other corporate reforms they are promoting make the system better rather than push it toward their ultimate goal – privatization.

Here is a maxim: Public policy should be based on evidence and experience, not hunches and hopes and wishful theories.

Gary Rubinstein has written a wonderful, thoughtful review of “Reign of Error.”

There are many highly quotable observations in his review, I liked this one best, because it goes to the heart of why we educate. If you get that wrong, then you can’t get anything else right.

He writes:

“For me, my favorite section was an eight page chapter, chapter 24, called ‘The Essentials of a Good Education.’ In this section Ravitch writes poetically about what the purpose of school is. In contrast to ‘raising test scores’ the ultimate goal of reformers, this section reminds us that schools is not about beating other countries, but about raising citizens who will one day vote and serve on juries. This chapter which would make Dewey proud and would probably make Michelle Rhee nauseous, really resonated with me. As I was reading it just before beginning my new school year, it really helped me put things back into perspective as I mentally prepare for what I am trying to achieve with my students this year. I expect this eight page section to be excerpted, maybe someplace like Reader’s Digest, and to be widely read and contemplated.”