Diane Ravitch

Ever since Sputnik it’s been common knowledge that the American educational system is on the verge of disaster. Yet after half a century of government reports, polemical bestsellers, data-driven miracle cures, and alphabet-soup programs, why aren’t our perpetually failing public schools fixed? According to education historian Diane Ravitch, we’re letting the interests of politicians, businessmen, and other adults get in the way of what children really need: not more testing but a better curriculum; fewer privatized “choices” but stronger neighborhood public schools; less intrusion from non-educators...

Ever since Sputnik it’s been common knowledge that the American educational system is on the verge of disaster. Yet after half a century of government reports, polemical bestsellers, data-driven miracle cures, and alphabet-soup programs, why aren’t our perpetually failing public schools fixed? According to education historian Diane Ravitch, we’re letting the interests of politicians, businessmen, and other adults get in the way of what children really need: not more testing but a better curriculum; fewer privatized “choices” but stronger neighborhood public schools; less intrusion from non-educators...

THE GLOBE continues to conflate standardized tests and quality education ("Don't cut standards for No Child Left Behind," Editorial, Aug. 22). Researchers such as Diane Ravitch and Richard Rothstein have demonstrated that nine years of No Child Left Behind, with its narrowing of education to teach to the test, have resulted in a slowing of the rate of improvement on the nation's report card compared with the previous decade. They understand that poverty is the greatest predictor of poor school performance.

‘Marshmallow toes, please!” Mrs. Nagle stage-whispers to her loud-footed, pinballing second-graders when they walk the halls. But if her cellphone goes off during class (ringtone: “When the Saints Go Marching In”), the kids may get up and boogie. The rest of the time, though, they need to work hard, for Mrs. Nagle’s kids learn like fiends. They research pond creatures, play math games, spell, read, measure, investigate, and write instructional reports on topics of their choice: How to Wrap a Gift, Throw a Football, and my own personal favorite, Be Awesome.

NEW YORK — US students are less proficient in their nation’s history than in any other subject, according to results of a nationwide test released yesterday, with most fourth-graders unable to say why Abraham Lincoln was an important figure, and few high school seniors able to identify China as the North Korean ally that fought US troops in the Korean War. Overall, 20 percent of fourth-graders, 17 percent of eighth-graders, and 12 percent of...

NEW YORK - Thanks in part to strong parent involvement, Public School 321 in Park Slope, a yuppie neighborhood in Brooklyn, is considered a gem of New York City's public school system. In the eyes of the city's Department of Education, however, P.S. 321 deserved just a B in its first- ever school report cards, which are based largely on how students score on standardized tests. Such accountability efforts - widespread since the advent of the federal No Child Left Behind Act - have raised the hackles of parents and educators across the country,...