Education in the News
Petition Seeks to Delay History MCAS
After a two-year delay, the State Board of Education has reintroduced a plan to implement a history MCAS. In addition to its having questionable value, it is expensive and will prove disruptive to curricula already in use. The Citizens for Public Schools has circulated a petition for people to sign in opposition to the petition.
Ravitch Answers Bill Gates in Blog
Read a great blog by Diane Ravitch in the Washington Post, entitled “Ravitch answers Gates.” In a Newsweek piece, Bill Gates threw out a challenge in the form of questions to Diane Ravitch. Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss asked Ravitch to answer them, introducing her piece as follows:
“…Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration’s education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.”
In the Newsweek piece, Gates poses some questions aimed at Ravitch. I asked her to answer them. Below are the questions Gates asked, in bold, and the answers, in italics, that Ravitch provided in an email.”