Ravitch fires ’em up in Sacramento

Education historian Diane Ravitch brought her anti-testing, pro-teacher message to an enthusiastic crowd at the Sacramento Convention Center last week.

The Sacramento Bee downplayed the crowd as “hundreds.” Event organizers put it at closer to 3,600 people.

Ravitch began her comments with a lament. “I’m disappointed that the mayor didn’t come to give me the key to the city,” she said, drawing hoots and laughs from the crowd.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and his wife, Michelle Rhee, are stars of a wing of the education-reform movement that proposes ending some union protections for teachers and evaluating teachers based on test scores.

“They want to turn teachers into testing technicians,” Ravitch said.

By contrast, Ravitch lauded California Gov. Jerry Brown as “the only governor in the nation who gives a damn about education,” because Brown would not submit California school districts to certain provisions of President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top program—including tying teacher evaluations to test scores—in exchange for federal funds.

Ravitch acknowledged that the ideas she’s fighting against are in fashion now, and have a daunting list of allies behind them, including Fox News and the Gates Foundation.

“What they don’t have on their side is truth and evidence,” Ravitch said. “The other side will always have more money. But an informed public will not tolerate the abandonment of public education.” (C.G.)