Diane Ravitch will speak tonight at WSU.

[Neilr]

Diane Ravitch, one of the country's major researchers/theorists on the topic of school reform will be speaking this evening at 6 pm at WSU. The event is free and open to the public.

In her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, she reverses her long-standing support of charter schools and high stakes testing as effective means to reform urban education in the US.

If you have an interest in urban school reform, it should be an interesting and informative evening.

http://www.media.wayne.edu/2010/09/2...sses-the-death

[English]

Met her yesterday; an amazing woman. Hope some here were able to attend her talk.

[everglade carl]

Just saw this post; bummer. I would've loved to attend that lecture.

[Craggy]

I interviewed Diane Ravitch yesterday afternoon, and will feature it on today's show. Right after the news at 10:00 this morning on WDET.

Craig

[Neilr]

Dr. Ravitch drew a large, diverse, enthusiastic crowd last evening to hear her as she laid out her defense of public education in America and the direction she suggests for improving our country's educational system.

For anyone interested in the topic of school reform, her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, is, I believe, well worth reading.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...stem&x=15&y=22

Or if you are interested but can only spend a few minutes, just read the reviews of the book on Amazon.com.

[kenp]

In her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, she reverses her long-standing support of charter schools and high stakes testing as effective means to reform urban education in the US.

All that tells me is that she was originally wrong, or at least she thinks she was.

[maxx]

All that tells me is that she was originally wrong, or at least she thinks she was.

"A silly consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." [Emerson]

So do the Detroit charter schools still register more kids than they can handle and then throw out the discipline problems after they get their money? Someone posting as Detroit teacher reported this a year or so ago.

[swingline]

Excellent interview with Prof. Ravitch on Craggy's show today. With her current book and her tour she is emphasizing that the major problem with urban education is not as much the inadequacies of the schools as it is the issues the students bring with them to the classroom. These issues are daunting. Some are the result of factors mostly beyond the control of the affected communities, some are not. Prof. Ravitch does not address the latter.

Detroit is somewhat unique even among struggling districts, not only for how low achievement has fallen but also for the degree of market penetration of charter schools [[by some measures only about half of Detroit school age children attend DPS). I wish she and Craggy could have more specifically discussed her views about solutions in the Detroit context.

The most interesting part of the interview came when she was discussing mayoral control of urban schools. She is not a fan and relies on the absence of achievement gains in mayor-controlled districts for support. But, she does support a middle ground solution regarding governance. She proposes the elimination of elected school boards in public education that would be replaced with governor/mayoral/city council appointees who meet certain qualifications and who could not be fired before their term expired absent cause. An intriguing idea but probably a non-starter for the "community" leaders who equate an inability to vote for a school board member with a return to slavery. Far better to "respect" an un-informed vote for hustlin' wannabe politicians than to place the schools in the hands of vetted education professionals and other proven business and community leaders. It's all about the respect after all.

[maxx]

Thanks for the summary, swingline. Did she mention specific issues students bring with them? I ask this because I've a feeling that some suburban children come with the same issues especially in the metro Detroit area since many of those children came from Detroit proper.

What good does the DPS school board do?