Today’s NYT has an explosive write up of the growing Bloomberg – Ravitch feud up in New York City. Diane is a serious and respected critic and as the article shows what she says is framing much of the debate up there (although it’s certainly debatable whether Klein – Bloomberg are as much at fault as she argues, particularly on the management side).
There is also a don’t miss quote from Columbia TC’s Levine:
Diane Ravitch is an ideologue,” said Arthur Levine, the president of Teachers College at Columbia University, where Dr. Ravitch was part of the faculty for nearly 20 years but which is now also home to the architects of the city’s literacy program. [And also receives a lot of money from the city for teacher professional development though the story leaves it to readers to connect those dots…]
But he acknowledged that unlike union leaders and some politicians, she was not an easy critic to dismiss. “Her credentials make her more thoughtful than many other conservatives”…
Eduwonk agrees that many conservatives are not very thoughtful about education, but doesn’t this have less to do with their “credentials” or conservativeness than with the specific ideas they push? Just attacking them en masse sure sounds like something an ideologue would say…