Interview from Democracy Now: Diane Ravitch-“Obama Administration Is Pushing Bush Administration NCLB Policies Even Further”

Diane Ravitch discusses in this interview why she thinks Race to the Top and the Obama administration policies are going to ruin public schools.

Several things come to mind after watching this interview. First of all, I think Ravitch is right on target when she discusses the need to focus on “curriculum” rather than tests. If we truly want students to learn more rigorous content it makes sense to create a new curriculum that contains more rigorous content. Anyone who has been in schools during the NCLB days knows that in order to satisfy the requirements of AYP, teachers are being forced to teach to the latest test. It’s a reality that can’t be denied. Secondly, the idea somehow that charter schools are better than regular public schools has not been proven. Besides, if the allure of charter schools is that they can somehow operate better outside the red-tape and educational bureaucracy, then perhaps we need to allow all public schools to operate outside this bureaucracy by cutting it away.