Richard Nixon

The last two weeks or so have given us some interesting education news. First came the NYT's March 2nd piece chronicling influential education historian Diane Ravitch's about-face on conservative education policies she once championed.

"Once outspoken about the power of standardized testing, charter schools and free markets to improve schools, Dr. Ravitch is now caustically critical. She underwent an intellectual crisis, she says, discovering that these strategies, which she now calls faddish trends, were undermining public education. She resigned last year from the boards of two conservative research groups."

The piece goes on to say that Ravitch now opposes No Child Left Behind, which she once endorsed, because "its requirements for testing in math and reading have squeezed vital subjects like history and art out of classrooms."

Having worked three years in a North Miami public elementary school as an FCAT tutor, I know first-hand the extent to which NCLB, in its attempt to increase school accountability, has crowded out other subjects, especially the arts. Worse yet, it doesn't accomplish its own goals. In my experience, all standardized tests like the FCAT are good for is squashing creativity in schools, frazzling teachers and terrifying students.Read more