Education Radio Program 4: Jonathan Kozol: Inequality and Education Reform

Recounting his early days in education, remembering the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and continuing the fight for equality in our nation's public schools, Jonathan Kozol delivers an impassioned and inspiring speech to a group of educators. Take a little time out of your busy day to listen to this tireless activist, educator, author and brilliant raconteur. When it is over you will be inspired to take action, hug a teacher and share his message with loved ones.

Follow the links below to download this show as a podcast:

Education Radio Program #4 on Audioport

Education Radio Program #4 on Internet Archive

Next weeks show will focus on the film The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for “Superman.”  This film exposes and interrupts the dominant narrative within the film “Waiting for Superman” which serves as another catalyst for the privatization of public education by hedge fund millionaires and corporate interests. As the filmmakers put it: Public Education is not for sale!

My favorite tweet of the week

Diane Ravitch: 20 years from now, historians will write about this era in education and wonder how and why policymakers lost their way.

in reply to ↑



Sahila ChangeBringer: policy makers are not lost; they're doing bidding of their masters, the oligarchy. Until you accept that, nothing will change

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.