Educational Policy Analyst Diane Ravitch Author talk with CTU: 'Students Deserve More'

by Hannah Knitter

Educational policy analyst Diane Ravitch spoke on her new book, “Slaying Goliath, The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America’s Public Schools” in a presentation hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union February 19 at their headquarters.

Ravitch served as assistant secretary of education from 1991- 1993, under President George H.W. Bush. During this era, Ravitch promoted No Child Left Behind, an educational reform movement that used standardized tests and value-type scales to deem students and schools successful or “in need of improvement.” But since her time in the government, Ravitch has changed her views. Now, she openly denounces standardized testing, and points to charter schools and any form of educational privatization as a major component of the destruction of the public school system as a whole.

In Slaying Goliath, Ravitch identifies two main groups fighting for educational policy “reform”: the Disrupters and the Resisters.

The Disrupters are those who want to change the public school system by shifting toward more charter schools and privatization, and the Resisters are those who fight this. The Disruptors are identified as those who have the power to affect structural change through their wealth alone. In a chapter of Slaying Goliath, Ravitch simply lists the millionaires (and billionaires) who are supporters of a privatized school system. Among them are the Koch brothers, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and, as a CTU host pointed out, Reed Hastings, the CEO and founder of Netflix.

On the other hand, the Resisters are the “little guys”: parents, teachers, and private citizens who value education as one of the last truly public institutions. Both groups recognize that the public school system has major problems but push for very different solutions. Ravitch clearly sides with the Resisters, as do her hosts of the evening, the Chicago Teachers Union.

One major issue that Ravitch focused on during her discussion was standardized testing. This testing is something that every student is required to undergo, or the schools will lose funding. This testing is used to grade schools on a scale, which is said to “assess progress,” but, as Ravitch points out, it has little to no educational value for students.

She pointed out multiple major flaws with standardized testing, from topics not relating to the actual curriculum students deal with, to results coming back when children are in the next grade and the information is no longer related to what they are actually learning. Ravitch also shared that she did not think that she could pass a standardized test above the elementary school level, and that this obviously had no bearing on her intellect or success as an adult.

A graduate of Wellesley College and Columbia University, Ravitch is a research professor of education at New York University and author of 11 books. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the winner of the 2011 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize presented by the American Academy of Political and Social Science for work to improve public policy – in her case, on urban education.

Confidently, Ravitch stated, “I would like for every legislator who votes for these tests to take them.” She went on to say that the tests would be abolished soon afterward.

When asked to what extent racism played into standardized test scores, Ravitch responded by pointing out that rather than there being an intelligence gap, there is an opportunity gap between white students and students of color. Non-white students often face a profound lack of resources when compared to other students, and Ravitch explained that this was what caused them to have lower scores. When children of color were consistently labelled failing, Ravitch stated, “[besides racism]… what else would you call it?” This is, Ravitch pointed out, a major failure of the current system and how schools are ranked.

Ultimately, Diane Ravitch strongly sides with the views that the Chicago Teachers Union holds: students deserve more. Teachers deserve more. And no matter the test score, all students, says Ravitch, are “equal in dignity.”