Diane Ravitch, research professor of education at New York University and renowned education historian, has long been at the forefront of national discussions on education policy and politics. In her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (Basic Books, March 2010), Ms. Ravitch charges that school reform is on the wrong track. She further argues that charter schooling and test-based accountability will not improve American education and that there are multiple reasons for low achievement, including the absence of a sound and coherent curriculum. Her stark indictment and own change of heart on many of these issues offers a chance to assess the assumptions and evidence that undergird today’s most visible education debates.
Please join us to hear Ms. Ravitch present the ideas in her new book. Immediately following her presentation, AEI resident scholar and director of education policy studies Frederick M. Hess moderated a discussion featuring William A. Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; AEI visiting scholar Mark Schneider, former national commissioner of education statistics and currently vice president at the American Institutes for Research; and Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3.2-million-member National Education Association.



