New Releases by Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch writes of those who have privatized the schools, the Disrupters, who believe America''s schools should be run like businesses, with teachers incentivized with threats and bonuses, and schools that need to enter into the age of the gig economy in which children are treated like customers or products. She writes of the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, the Waltons (Walmart), Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and many more, on the right and the left, as well as corporations, foundations, etc., intent on promoting the privatization of one of our most valued public institutions. Ravitch lays out, in extensive detail, the facts showing that the ideas put forth by school privateers have failed; that their promises of higher test scores have not come to pass; that the "great hope" of Common Core has been a dud. Arrayed against these forces, Ravitch writes of the volunteer army--"the Resisters"--that has sprung up from Seattle, Texas, and Colorado, to Detroit, New Orleans, and Buffalo, New York--parents, teachers, grandparents, students, bloggers, religious leaders, brave individuals, who, spurred on by conviction, courage, determination, and the power of ideas and passion, are fighting back to successfully keep alive their public schools.

People who had long treasured their local public schools are now being told that our nation’s schools are “failing,” that we are not preparing children for “the global economy.” Many of these purveyors of doom and gloom are working to disrupt public schools and have created their own purposely deceptive vocabulary to assist their efforts. In this important book, Ravitch and Bailey decipher and demystify the new language of education. They describe the key terms and groups currently embroiled in the corporate fight besieging schools. EdSpeak and Doubletalk is an essential resource for anyone seeking to gain deeper awareness and understanding about the fight for public education. It is also an excellent text for any university class that deals with teaching, educational administration, and policymaking. “This is a glossary with an attitude, and because of that, I endorse it even more strongly.” —David C. Berliner, Arizona State University “A lively review of terminology, with surprisingly deep definitions that help us understand the fast-changing landscape of our schools and those working for and against them.” —Anthony Cody, cofounder, Network for Public Education “EdSpeak and Doubletalk is so much more than a glossary of education terms. The authors masterfully unveil the deception, duplicity, schemes, and profit motives behind the moneyed interests that strive to control education policies.” —Laura Bowman, Parents Across America

Diane Ravitch is a lightning rod in American Society. She is a fearless defender of public education as the foundation stone of democracy. In this unique collection of her most important writings, Diane Ravitch provides remarkable insights into her seminal thinking on public education, and on the dangers to democracy of treating parents as consumers, students as products, and teachers as compliant followers of commercial scripts. In the Foreword, Yohuru Williams writes that by reading these essays, "we all can harness the power of her insights for the fight ahead." He states: "Those currently in the struggle, for example, may appreciate the opportunity for reflection on how far we have come and the road we have left to travel. Those new to the struggle may find a source for imitation and inspiration as well as a blueprint for engagement. It is as important and necessary now as it was a decade ago. Finally for the veterans, the book can offer new stimulation and encouragement to carry on, despite the feelings of being worn down and perhaps a bit bitter from so many years of fighting the good fight." In the following pages, you will encounter some of Diane''s most inspired and insightful writings full of the wit and wisdom that have made her an icon among teachers, community leaders, students, and activists concerned with preserving public education. Diane''s unwavering support of public education has made her a national treasure. Public school teachers love her. In The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch Diane shines a light on their courage and endurance. She inspires them. But through her writing she also strikes fear into the hearts of all those - oligarchs, politicians, hedge fund financiers, and corporate reformers - who are intent on dismantling public schools and turning them into corporate money makers. Similarly, through her pen, Diane confronts the detractors of public education and exposes the nefarious purposes of the Common Core, high stakes testing, and corporate reform. She names names - Bill Gates, Eva Moskowitz, Mark Zuckerberg, David Coleman, Charles and David Koch, and the Waltons. Essentially, Diane has a most extraordinary talent for encouraging readers to inhabit what''s happening in the texts that she is writing. We stand beside her and take up the challenge of resisting, persisting, and pushing down the risks to children whose public schools are in jeopardy and who are growing up in a democracy that is in peril. Her goal is to bring hope to all those educators who have been disrespected by plutocrats. In these writings, she does exactly that.

An urgent case for protecting public education, from one of America''s best-known education experts In this landmark book, 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, the Common Core, standardized testing, the replacement of teachers by technology, charter schools, and vouchers. 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 and includes clear prescriptions for improving America''s schools. 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.

From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In a chapter-by-chapter breakdown she puts forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve our public schools. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it.

The excerpts featured in this free sampler come from some of our most popular nonfiction books for middle and high school classrooms—making them ideal choices to meet the new Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts. From the primary documents of The American Reader to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind—the story of young man from an impoverished African village who built a windmill to bring life-changing electricity to his community—these books will take students across time periods and around the world. They''ll grapple with complex ideas and meet people from the past and present who will inspire them. Along the way, your students will come to understand the components of critical thinking and good writing—and why they matter.

Updating her highly acclaimed book, Diane Ravitch presents the latest information on the debate over national standards and assessments. "Ensuring a rigorous liberal education for all is asking a lot in a contentious democracy like ours. Is it possible to educate every child to the same high standards? Is it politically feasible? Will raising standards help or hinder poor minority children? Ravitch sees where these land mines are buried and her book provides an indispensable diagram for getting around them."—The Wall Street Journal "A simple message lies at the heart of Diane Ravitch''s new book.... If clear and consistent goals of learning could be set for all American children, rich and poor, gifted and ordinary, then all of these children would end up better educated than they now are likely to be."—The New York Times "No one could be more qualified to write a book about national standards in education than Diane Ravitch."—The Washington Times "The ongoing debate about national education standards and assessment in the U.S. has created as much confusion as it has solutions. What has been needed is an examination of the educational, historical, political, and social issues related to the development of such standards. Ravitch provides such a foundation."—Choice

The American Reader is a stirring and memorable anthology that captures the many facets of American culture and history in prose and verse. The 200 poems, speeches, songs, essays, letters, and documents were chosen both for their readability and for their significance. These are the words that have inspired, enraged, delighted, chastened, and comforted Americans in days gone by. Gathered here are the writings that illuminate -- with wit, eloquence, and sometimes sharp words -- significant aspects of national conciousness. They reflect the part that all Americans -- black and white, native born and immigrant, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American, poor and wealthy -- have played in creating the nation''s character.

What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know? Gives the results of the first nationwide test of American high school students'' knowledge of history and literature, as well as fascinating insight into what teenagers are reading, how much television they watch, what influence their home environment has on their academic achievement, and what historical topics and literary works are included in (or have been dropped from) the school curriculum.

The author of this paper describes the responsibilities of the National Assessment Governing Board, of which she served as a member from November 1997 to September 2004. The Board is unlike any other board of which she has been a member. At the quarterly meetings, the Board not only discusses and makes major policy decisions but determines the inner workings of national assessments. The Board''s responsibilities are spelled out in federal law. It is the policymaking board for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which examines samples of American students in a variety of subjects. The Board carefully discusses and decides which subjects will be tested, when tests will be given, how tests will be constructed, what kinds of standards will be used to gauge the results, and how the results will be reported to the public. The Board is also responsible for assuring that the assessments are valid, free of bias, and reliable. She states that her years as a Board member taught her a great deal. She saw a citizen Board function responsibly and energetically, and saw the internal operation of a consensus process that produced a genuine enthusiasm for high standards and educational excellence. If there should ever be a time when the United States again decides that national standards and national assessments are good ideas, the model created by the Board will stand forth as proof that such things can be accomplished without falling prey to political zealots, religious controversies, or the schemes of those who would use testing to advance their own narrow agenda.

If you’re an actress or a coed just trying to do a man-size job, a yes-man who turns a deaf ear to some sob sister, an heiress aboard her yacht, or a bookworm enjoying a boy’s night out, Diane Ravitch’s internationally acclaimed The Language Police has bad news for you: Erase those words from your vocabulary! Textbook publishers and state education agencies have sought to root out racist, sexist, and elitist language in classroom and library materials. But according to Diane Ravitch, a leading historian of education, what began with the best of intentions has veered toward bizarre extremes. At a time when we celebrate and encourage diversity, young readers are fed bowdlerized texts, devoid of the references that give these works their meaning and vitality. With forceful arguments and sensible solutions for rescuing American education from the pressure groups that have made classrooms bland and uninspiring, The Language Police offers a powerful corrective to a cultural scandal.

Every profession has its own language. Education is no exception and like other professions, the language of education is often incomprehensible to those outside the field. This book is the author''s attempt to explain in everyday language the esoteric terms, expressions, and buzzwords used in U.S. education today.--[from preface].

Why does the United States not have the teachers it needs? The media typically focus on a looming teacher shortage, but this volume of the Brookings Papers on Education Policy goes beyond the question of quantity to examine why American schools must scramble to find enough well-prepared and effective teachers. There are perennial teacher shortages in certain fields, especially mathematics and the sciences. Many teachers are assigned to subjects in which they have neither a major nor a minor. Which is more important in training teachers: pedagogical knowledge or content knowledge? Furthermore, a disproportionate number of teachers who are uncertified and inexperienced are assigned to urban and poor schools. Is there anything states and districts can do to change this bleak picture? These and many other issues related to teacher education, teacher preparation, teacher assignment, and teacher compensation are explored here. The controversies studied have been raging in policy circles for many years. While the contributors do not issue any ringing policy manifestos their clear and cool analysis sheds enough light on these dilemmas to help guide the way to better approaches to teacher training, compensation, and retention.

In this authoritative history of American education reforms in this century, a distinguished scholar makes a compelling case that our schools fail when they consistently ignore their central purpose--teaching knowledge.

This second annual issue of the series focuses on the state of urban education in America. It provides in-depth, jargon-free analysis of the most important issues in education today—from some of the country''s leading experts. Edited by Diane Ravitch, one of the nation''s foremost education authorities, Brookings Papers on Education Policy is an indispensable guide to understanding education trends and emerging issues. Contents include: "History of Urban Education in this Century" by Jeffrey Mirel, Emory University "School Reform in Chicago" by Anthony Bryk, University of Chicago "Lessons from Houston" by Donald McAdams, Houston Independent School Board "Problems of Managing a Big-City School System" by Stanley Litow, IBM Corporation "Single-Sex Schooling: Law, Policy, and Research" by Rosemary C. Salomone, St. John''s University School of Law "How Litigation Has Undermined Schools" by Abigail Thernstrom, Manhattan Institute/Massachusetts Board of Education "Creating Successful Urban Schools" by James Comer, Yale Child Study Center "Voucher Experiments" by Paul Peterson, Harvard University "Proposed Reforms of Governance" by Paul Hill, University of Washington

What is the state of education in America today? And where is it headed? What is the real state of education in America today? And where is it headed? The Brookings Institution, long noted for its pathbreaking work on education policy, introduces a series of annual volumes that provide the inside story on education''s most important issues. In each annual edition, leading experts offer jargon-free, in-depth analyses of a wide range of topics in education, along with fresh ideas, thought-provoking opinions, and invaluable insight. They offer unprecedented access to the policies, decisions, and viewpoints that are shaping our current education system and our plans for the 21st century. Edited by Diane Ravitch, one of the nation''s foremost education authorities, Brookings Papers on Education Policy is an indispensable guide to understanding education trends and emerging issues. Brookings Papers on Education Policy: 1998 includes: An Examination of American Student Achievement from an International Perspective by Harold Stevenson, University of Michigan An Assessment of the Scholarly Debate about Achievement by Lawrence Stedman, State University of New York Upgrading High School Mathematics and Science by Andrew Porter, University of Wisconsin, Madison Uncompetitive American Schools: Causes and Cures by Herbert Walberg, University of Illinois Radical Constructivism, Mathematics Education, and Cognitive Psychology by John Anderson, Lynne Reder, and Herb Simon, Carnegie Mellon University The Uses and Misuses of Education Research by Policymakers at State and Local Levels by Tom Loveless, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Standards Outside the Classroom by Lawrence Steinberg, Temple University The Extent and Cost of Remediation in Higher Education by David W. Breneman, University of Virginia School of Education

The lack of U.S. students'' knowledge of history and geography has been portrayed on television and in the newspapers as a national problem. California''s public schools are taking significant steps to ensure that all students have a well developed understanding of their society and the world. This guide for parents answers some of the most commonly asked questions about the 1987 California History-Social Science Framework (for K-12) and suggests concrete ways in which parents can help their children succeed in school. A literature list for parents and children (K-12) is included. (DB)

Bringing together the noted educational commentator''s major essays, this volume sets forth her views on key issues.

A comprehensive history of controversies in American education since World War II clarifies the issues involved and the social and political forces that have shaped present-day American education.