The death and life of the great American school system : how testing and choice are undermining education

A passionate plea to preserve and renew public education, The Death and Life of the Great American School System is a radical change of heart from one of America’s best-known education experts. Diane Ravitch—former assistant secretary of education and a leader in the drive to create a national curriculum—examines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, Ravitch critiques today’s most popular ideas for restructuring schools, including privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability, and the feckless multiplication of charter schools. She shows conclusively why the business model is not an appropriate way to improve schools. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, Ravitch makes the case that public education today is in peril. Ravitch includes clear prescriptions for improving America’s schools: leave decisions about schools to educators, not politicians or businessmen devise a truly national curriculum that sets out what children in every grade should be learning expect charter schools to educate the kids who need help the most, not to compete with public schools pay teachers a fair wage for their work, not “merit pay” based on deeply flawed and unreliable test scores encourage family involvement in education from an early age The Death and Life of the Great American School System is more than just an analysis of the state of play of the American education system. It is a must-read for any stakeholder in the future of American schooling. Award-winning author, public intellectual, and former Assistant Secretary of Education, critiques a lifetime's worth of school reforms and reveals the simple, yet difficult, truth about how we can create actual change in public schools. A passionate plea to preserve and renew public education, this work is a radical change of heart from one of America's best known education experts. The author, a leader in the drive to create a national curriculum, examines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, she critiques today's most popular ideas for restructuring schools, including privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability, and the feckless multiplication of charter schools. She shows conclusively why the business model is not an appropriate way to improve schools. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, she makes the case that public education today is in peril. She includes clear prescriptions for improving America's schools: leave decisions about schools to educators, not politicians or businessmen ; devise a truly national curriculum that sets out what children in every grade should be learning ; expect charter schools to educate the kids who need help the most, not to compete with public schools ; pay teachers a fair wage for their work, not "merit pay" based on deeply flawed and unreliable test scores ; encourage family involvement in education from an early age. This book is an analysis of the state of play of the American education system Also by Diane Ravitch Title Page Dedication Acknowledgements CHAPTER ONE - What I Learned About School Reform CHAPTER TWO - Hijacked! How the Standards Movement Turned Into the Testing Movement CHAPTER THREE - The Transformation of District 2 CHAPTER FOUR - Lessons from San Diego CHAPTER FIVE - The Business Model in New York City CHAPTER SIX - NCLB: Measure and Punish CHAPTER SEVEN - Choice: The Story of an Idea CHAPTER EIGHT - The Trouble with Accountability CHAPTER NINE - What Would Mrs. Ratliff Do? CHAPTER TEN - The Billionaire Boys’ Club CHAPTER ELEVEN - Lessons Learned Notes Index Copyright Page What I learned about school reform Hijacked!: how the standards movement turned into the testing movement The transformation of district 2 Lessons from San Diego The business model in New York City NCLB: measure and punish Choice: the story of an idea The trouble with accountability What would Mrs. Ratliff do? The billionaire boys' club Lessons learned Epilogue: school and society.