Education Radio Program 3: Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind & Race to the Top

This week's show features Diane Ravitch's keynote address from the Save Our Schools Conference that took place in Washington D.C. in July, 2011. In this keynote, Ravitch presents arguments against NCLB and Race to the Top, within a larger critique of federal education reform.

You can download our show as a podcast via the following two links (Google Chrome users please use Internet Archive):

Education Radio Program #3: Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind & Race to the Top at Internet Archive
or
Education Radio Program #3: Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind & Race to the Top at Audioport

A Professor of Education at NYU and an education historian, Diane Ravitch is a former neoliberal education reform advocate and Bush I Assistant Secretary of Education who has since made a remarkable about face to become a leading critic of NCLB and RTTT. She is now an aggressive advocate for public education to be the primary engine for democratic citizenship.

From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. She was responsible for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education. As Assistant Secretary, she led the federal effort to promote the creation of voluntary state and national academic standards. From 1997 to 2004, she was a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the federal testing program.

Study Finds Metal Detectors More Common in High-Minority Schools

Read the Ed Week story here, and then check out our Program #2 Interview with CUNY Graduate Center's Michelle Fine to hear specific stories of the impact of high security on students in NYC public schools.

Diane Ravitch challenges NCLB and Race to the Top on Democracy Now!

“Poverty Is the Problem”: Efforts to Cut Education Funding, Expand Standardized Testing Assailed

www.democracynow.org

As millions of students prepare to go back to school, budget cuts are resulting in teacher layoffs and larger classes across the country. This comes as the drive towards more standardized testing increases despite a string of cheating scandals in New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and other cities...

Tune in next week to Education Radio to hear Diane Ravitch's keynote address to the Save Our Schools conference held at American University in Washington D.C.

Diane Ravitch on why education reform is doomed to failure

The Reform Movement Is Already Failing 
By Diane Ravitch

Aug 23, 2011

Reuters invited leading educators to reply to Steven Brill’s op-ed on the school reform deniers.

She writes, "In my nearly four decades as a historian of education, I have analyzed the rise and fall of reform movements. Typically, reforms begin with loud declarations that our education system is in crisis. Throughout the twentieth century, we had a crisis almost every decade. After persuading the public that we are in crisis, the reformers bring forth their favored proposals for radical change. The radical changes are implemented in a few sites, and the results are impressive. As their reforms become widespread, they usually collapse and fail. In time, those who have made a career of educating children are left with the task of cleaning up the mess left by the last bunch of reformers."

Ed Radio Program 2: Stories of Struggle, Stories of Hope

Welcome to Education Radio's second show!

We continue our Save Our Schools report featuring several more voices from the event – voices that relay both stories of struggle and stories of hope. Michelle Fine, a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, discusses the complicated ways that education reform is playing out within several New York City schools.  Tabrian Joe is a Detroit public high school student organizer who led student walkouts to protest the city’s school closings. Sabrina Stevens Shupe, a former Denver Public Schools teacher and the public relations coordinator for Save Our Schools shares her story of being forced out of a teaching position for taking a stand against her principal’s vision of school reform.

This installment of Education Radio can be downloaded at:
Education Radio 2: SOS Conference Stories on Internet Archive
or
Education Radio 2: SOS Conference Stories on Audioport

(Google Chrome users must use Internet Archive)

Next Week: Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education under George H.W. Bush, education reform leader and supporter of No Child Left Behind; who has since transformed into a staunch opponent of high stakes testing, charter schools and school privatization.

Education Radio's Debut Show!

Education Radio is pleased to announce that our debut show is up and ready to go!

This show features an exclusive interview with Jonathan Kozol. It also includes a compilation of voices and testimony from youth, teachers, administrators and education activists from around the country (including Matt Damon) during the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action that occurred on July 30th, 2011 in Washington DC.

Currently, the two best ways to download the show are through (please click on either to link to the show).
Education Radio 1: Kozol Interview/SOS Rally & March on Audioport 

Education Radio 1: Kozol Interview/SOS Rally & March on Internet Archive . If you use Google Chrome as your browser, you will need to use Internet Archive. 

Please let us know if you have any difficulty accessing our show.

 

Jon Stewart's address to teachers at the SOS rally

Preview of our upcoming show!

For a taste of what's to come, check out the preview of next week's show:

Education Radio 1: SOS Rally & March

The Latest from Wisconsin

We're not done yet!

Wisconsin voters on Tuesday tossed two Republican state senators out of office in recall elections, sending a message that they won't tolerate the politics of extremism. Although the recall elections fell short of the goal of turning over control of the State Senate, we’re not done yet – and we’re not going away. The grassroots nature of what’s happening across our state will lay a foundation for future elections, resulting in a stronger democracy that represents the voice of working families. We have made astonishing gains in an uphill battle!

Wisconsin Education Association Council | August 10, 2011

Anti-Union Law Fuels Massive Voter Turnout For Historic Wisconsin Recall

Democracy Now!

WI Recall Marks Labor Win; Election Money Raises Question of U.S. as "Democracy or Dollar-ocracy?"

Democracy Now!

Wisconsin Recalls Replace Two Republican Senators in a Rebuke to Governor's Anti-Labor Agenda John Nichols | The Nation

Quotes of the Week

"I believe that teachers in our public schools are not as the White House seems to think: merely the technicians of mechanical proficiency. I believe our teachers are warriors for justice, working on the front lines in the struggle for democracy."



Jonathan Kozol

Save Our Schools Conference

July 28, 2011





"Public education... is the largest shared experience we all have... so if we don't have strong public schools, we will not have a strong society... its just not possible."



Sabrina Stevens Shupe

Save Our Schools

July 28, 2011

More pictures from the rally and march

Education Radio reporter Tim Scott interviewing Matt Damon

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

Last weekend I traveled to D.C., with fellow field reporter Tim Scott, to cover the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action. We spent two days at the S.O.S. conference, participating in sessions with students, teachers, education scholars that dealt with a wide range of issues around inequity in public schooling. We interviewed Jonathon Kozol, Diane Ravitch, Michelle Fine, Diane Levin, the Brooklyn teachers/filmmakers behind “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,” as well as students and teachers from across the country. We heard personal testimonies of what is happening in schools, in classrooms and in unions around the nation, and we left each day both frustrated and inspired by the stories we heard.

We then joined the rally and march on the Ellipse on Saturday – interviewing more teachers (as well as Matt Damon – and if you haven’t seen this fun clip from the media tent at the rally, be sure to check it out here).

We have returned from the event, not only armed with hours of insightful and passionate testimony – but with renewed conviction and energy to continue the fight for equitable public schooling for all children and fair labor conditions for teachers and staff.

In the next few weeks, we will debut our first show, which will focus on the rally and march. The second show will emerge from the material we gathered at the conference. The rest of our tentative topic line up is as follows:

3. Jonathon Kozol’s keynote from the S.O.S conference
4. Diane Ravitch’s keynote from the S.O.S conference
5. The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman…interview with the filmmakers and the movie profile
6. Virtual Charter Schools
7. Peck Full Service Community School in Holyoke

Please stay tuned for more information on where to find our shows! Also, please feel free to contact us at educatradio@gmail.com with comments and suggestions.