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The Death And Life Of The Great American School System: How Testing And Choice Are Undermining Education (2010)

by Diane Ravitch(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0465014917 (ISBN13: 9780465014910)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Basic Books

review 1: Diane Ravitch, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, has written a concise and well-researched book examining the current state of public education in America, which, if you weren't paying attention, is currently in grave and imminent danger. Ravitch is compelling as someone who has done a complete 180-turn, having been one of the primary architects of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 under the Bush administration. For anyone who wants to understand how our education system has and is currently being transformed by well-minded but myopic corporate reformers, this is a good place to start (Ravitch also recently wrote another book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools, which continues where she left off... more). In short, Ravitch leads us up and down the rocky and moss-lined slopes of education, highlighting the major laws and acts of Congress that have shaped public education, for better or worse, in the last several decades.History is important here, as it becomes clear by the end of her book the novel and creative ways in which billionaire foundations are strong-arming state boards of education, school districts, national and regional think tanks, and educational agencies to privatize public education, kill teacher unions, and limit criticism of their undemocratic efforts. Ravitch points out, correctly I think, that we are entering a new age where massive sums of money are being used to direct our curriculum and reshape our schools. The only problem? Corporate CEOs are not teachers. By focusing on accountability (standardized testing) and pushing capitalist, market-based strategies into the public educational arena (private charter schools, data collection, ending teacher tenure), these foundations erroneously believe that all students will somehow magically improve, even though there's plenty of evidence that the "success" of charter schools is an illusion (chapter 7) and standardized test scores (chapter 8) are not an accurate marker of students' learning or a teacher's overall instructional effectiveness. In fact, there is very little research evidence to prove that their reforms will work; in fact, it may be detrimental to what is best in education: democratic ideals, reinforcing community ties, and teaching a broad liberal arts education instead of focusing only on reading and math.In all, Ravitch's book is a powerful and important read from someone who has insight into the politics and history of education in this country. It's also easy to read and thought-provoking. Well done.
review 2: Ravitch's title (referencing Jacob's classic book about cities) captures well the approach of her book - challenging the trending notions in education: namely, that market-based reforms can spur positive competition and eliminate bad teachers, that testing can, in itself, distinguish bad from good (students/teachers/schools), that changes in pedagogy, procedures and school structure should be imposed swiftly (and not negotiated with school stakeholders). In the first part of the book, Ravitch describes 'case studies' of reform in various districts in what seems to be a balanced manner. Efforts to stick to goals (contained in No Child Left Behind) will be undermined (via cheating, weeding out test-takers, lower score requirements) if the goals are unrealistic. She does consistently express support for national curriculum and standards - pointing out that educational powerhouses Finland and Asia vary in whether they have teacher unions but all have excellent curricula. [This led me to think she would be happy to see, subsequent to the book's publication, the development of Common Core state standards (the nation-wide but not federal guidelines she advocates), but I am not sure if she actually supports them]. From the book, it is clear Ravitch is a proponent of standards for subjects beyond just reading and math. I felt the book came up short in suggesting practical ways that districts could evaluate educational performance, focusing more on criticizing the various methods (test scores, value-added models, teacher certification) currrently in place. It also is repetitive in parts and not very cleanly structured. However I appreciated many of Ravitch's arguments as compelling, and felt this was a good introduction to (one view of) the main education policy debates taking place today. less

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