Plenary Address Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch
Author and Professor
Diane Ravitch is a historian of education, a Research Professor of Education at New York University, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
From 1991 to 1993, Ravitch served as Assistant Secretary of Education to Lamar Alexander in the administration of George H.W. Bush, with responsibility for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. During the Clinton administration, she was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board, overseeing federal testing. Before entering government service, Ravitch was Adjunct Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has a Ph.D. from Columbia.
Ravitch is the author of more than twenty books, including The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn (2003) and Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform (2000). She has critiqued the punitive uses of accountability to fire teachers, close schools, and replace public schools with charter schools.
Her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, has received wide attention. Ravitch states: “I hope it will change the national conversation about school reform and encourage people to recognize how difficult it is to build and sustain good schools. Those who read the book should be inspired to thank a teacher for the hard and important work they do every day.”
Author and Professor
Diane Ravitch is a historian of education, a Research Professor of Education at New York University, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. From 1991 to 1993, Ravitch served as Assistant Secretary of Education to Lamar Alexander in the administration of George H.W. Bush, with responsibility for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. During the Clinton administration, she was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board, overseeing federal testing. Before entering government service, Ravitch was Adjunct Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has a Ph.D. from Columbia.
Ravitch is the author of more than twenty books, including The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn (2003) and Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform (2000). She has critiqued the punitive uses of accountability to fire teachers, close schools, and replace public schools with charter schools.
Her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, has received wide attention. Ravitch states: “I hope it will change the national conversation about school reform and encourage people to recognize how difficult it is to build and sustain good schools. Those who read the book should be inspired to thank a teacher for the hard and important work they do every day.”
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