Diane Ravitch: The Death and Life of the Great American School System

Diane Ravitch: The Death and Life of the Great American School System

 Diane Ravitch is an experienced and knowledgeable source of information about the changes in the American school system in the past few decades.  Her alignment with the accountability movement, and her subsequent about-face, marks her opinions as unique within the field of educational policy.

The book does a wonderful job pointing out the perils of NCLB and the current educational goals of this administration, using historical context and citing studies and reforms that are both modern and relevant.  Whether or not she "cherry-picks" to support her arguments is of little consequence.  That these studies and trials exist at all should be enough to cast a shadow of doubt on any reader.

I have a new lens to examine the reform movements after reading this book.  As a psychometrician- and educational psychologist-in-training, I share a lot of her views about high-stakes testing and the dangers of using numbers and formulas to make decisions that affect such a large and heterogeneous group as teachers and students.  But there is a lot that I did not know about the complexities of public education.  I have been made aware of issues with private donations, charter schools, teachers unions, and policy being made by people with little (no!) educational experience or training.

Instead of being a final destination with a wonderful answer that promises to fix what we have started, the book is more like the first 15 seconds of a roller coaster ride - slowly ticking uphill on the track, only to leave you looking down at a precipitous drop.  I am emotional and energetic after reading the book - looking at what has to be a huge change in the American educational system in the next few years.  From my response, I would say that Ms. Ravitch has achieved her goal with this book.

What now?  I am most interested in reading more about our current educational policies, what will happen in 2014, and about charter schools.  What does the near future look like?  More selfishly, what does my future career look like?

Will I be an (unemployed) instigator of teacher and student voice, high standards, and a love of teaching and learning - the reason why I left my hard science background?  Or will I end up working for a testing company, making sure that teachers have a 1% increase on student achievement each year?

The future doesn't look so bright.