On the Washington Post web site, Diane Ravitch recommends three books that offer “some dissenting views” on the administration’s current education reform plans.
I haven’t read the books and can’t verify their quality, but this observation by Ravitch in her introduction is right on target.
Now that the Obama administration has invited the states to compete for $5 billion in stimulus funds, the winners will not be those that come up with the best reform ideas, but those that agree to do what the administration wants: create privately managed charter schools, evaluate teachers by their students’ test scores, and close low-performing schools.
Money + power = do it our way.
I’d like to believe there are more lofty motives than what we’re reading, but sadly, bureaucracy seems to prevail. Innovation seems lost.