ravitch responds

Diane Ravitch is often one of few voices who speak out loudly against current education reform. As someone wishing to engage in critical dialogue, her voice was refreshing. My one disappointment with her was that she did not have an advocacy group or goal -- no place to put her energy.

With the launch of the Network for Public Education everything has changed. Their mission:

Our mission is to protect, preserve, promote, and strengthen public schools and the education of current and future generations of students. We will accomplish this by networking groups and organizations focused on similar goals in states and districts throughout the nation, share information about what works and what doesn’t work in public education, and endorse and rate candidates for office based on our principles and goals. More specifically, we will support candidates who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, the privatization of our public schools and the outsourcing of its core functions to for-profit corporations, and we will support candidates who work for evidence-based reforms that will improve our schools and the education of our nation’s children.

Here is a Q&A with Ravitch, sent in by a teacher friend of mine, from wapo.

The reason that this network is so important is because it brings another voice to the table. It offers an alternative to high-stakes testing and privatization. Here, we have educators and experts testifying to the strength and vitality that public schools are capable of.