A misplaced emphasis on standardized
school testing by education "reformers" is "wrecking American
education as never before in American history," an early advocate of those
reforms who has since changed her mind told an enthusiastic audience at Duke
Monday evening.
"I stand before you tonight
as an ex-conservative," Diane Ravitch told a packed audience in Page
Auditorium. "I was part of that large chorus that warned that the sky was
falling."
Reliance on standardized testing
has led to widespread cheating and other problems for American schools while
failing to improve their performance, according to Ravitch, who said "the
Bad News Industry is very loud and it is very powerful. [Its] policies are very
dangerous for future education."
"No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
is the single worst piece of federal education legislation ever passed,"
said Ravitch, and its successor -- Race to the Top -- is based on the same
misguided principles. "I am very sorry that your state won Race to the Top,
[which] is NCLB rebranded," she said.
Federal policies have caused large
numbers of public schools to be labeled as failures, an approach Ravitch
described as "literally insane and certainly irresponsible." The "dreadful"
federal approach focuses on measuring and punishing, leading to "fear and
intimidation," she said, adding "it's no wonder so many educators are
demoralized."
Research Professor of Education
at New York University and the author of 10 books on education reform, Ravitch blogs
for Education Week, Politico and the Huffington Post, and has written for many
prominent publications. She held senior education posts in the administrations
of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Instead of relying on a
private-sector model that emphasizes winners and losers, she said, American
education should seek to "help every student" and create "a
decent society where everyone has an equal chance to reach his or her
potential."
"I do not mean to say that
testing is bad. The problem is that tests today are way, way overemphasized,"
said Ravitch, who noted that schools have cut back on the arts and other
subjects not included in standardized tests. She praised Teach for America as "a
very worthy program" but said it has "sucked all of the air" out
of efforts to improve teacher performance.
"We can improve our schools,"
Ravitch concluded, if the nation stops obsessing about testing and instead
commits to helping teachers and addressing underlying problems such as poverty.
"History will judge us by what we do today to make that vision real for
every child in this nation," she said.
Her visit was sponsored jointly
by Duke's Program in Education and Durham Public Schools (DPS). Earlier in the
day, she met privately with 20 faculty and other members of the Duke community who
are "committed to the central
importance of strong public education," said Jan Riggsbee,
who directs the Duke program and helped arrange Ravitch's visit.
The lunch conversation "reaffirmed
a lot of what we're trying to do at Duke," said David Malone, director of Trinity
College's Service Learning Program, which is housed in the education program. "We've
been working hard at Duke to provide opportunities for our undergraduates to
address one of the most important issues facing American society, which is
public education."
Prior to her speech, Ravitch also
met with DPS teachers, principals, administrators and board members, leading to
what DPS spokesman Jeff Nash described as "inspired conversations"
among the approximately 30 participants.