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This week's show features Diane Ravitch's keynote address from the Save Our Schools Conference that took place in Washington D.C. in July, 2011. In this keynote, Ravitch presents arguments against NCLB and Race to the Top, within a larger critique of federal education reform. You can download our show as a podcast via the following two links (Google Chrome users please use Internet Archive): Education Radio Program #3: Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind & Race to the Top at Internet Archive or Education Radio Program #3: Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind & Race to the Top at Audioport A Professor of Education at NYU and an education historian, Diane Ravitch is a former neoliberal education reform advocate and Bush I Assistant Secretary of Education who has since made a remarkable about face to become a leading critic of NCLB and RTTT. She is now an aggressive advocate for public education to be the primary engine for democratic citizenship. From 1991 to 1993, she wa...

Read the Ed Week story here , and then check out our Program #2 Interview with CUNY Graduate Center's Michelle Fine to hear specific stories of the impact of high security on students in NYC public schools.

“Poverty Is the Problem”: Efforts to Cut Education Funding, Expand Standardized Testing Assailed www.democracynow.org As millions of students prepare to go back to school, budget cuts are resulting in teacher layoffs and larger classes across the country. This comes as the drive towards more standardized testing increases despite a string of cheating scandals in New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and other cities... Tune in next week to Education Radio to hear Diane Ravitch's keynote address to the Save Our Schools conference held at American University in Washington D.C.

The Reform Movement Is Already Failing   By Diane Ravitch Aug 23, 2011 Reuters invited leading educators to reply to Steven Brill’s op-ed on the school reform deniers. She writes, "In my nearly four decades as a historian of education, I have analyzed the rise and fall of reform movements. Typically, reforms begin with loud declarations that our education system is in crisis. Throughout the twentieth century, we had a crisis almost every decade. After persuading the public that we are in crisis, the reformers bring forth their favored proposals for radical change. The radical changes are implemented in a few sites, and the results are impressive. As their reforms become widespread, they usually collapse and fail. In time, those who have made a career of educating children are left with the task of cleaning up the mess left by the last bunch of reformers."

Welcome to Education Radio's second show! We continue our Save Our Schools report featuring several more voices from the event – voices that relay both stories of struggle and stories of hope. Michelle Fine, a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, discusses the complicated ways that education reform is playing out within several New York City schools.  Tabrian Joe is a Detroit public high school student organizer who led student walkouts to protest the city’s school closings. Sabrina Stevens Shupe, a former Denver Public Schools teacher and the public relations coordinator for Save Our Schools shares her story of being forced out of a teaching position for taking a stand against her principal’s vision of school reform. This installment of Education Radio can be downloaded at: Education Radio 2: SOS Conference Stories on Internet Archive or Education Radio 2: SOS Conference Stories on Audioport (Google Chrome users must use Internet Archive) Next Week: D...

Education Radio is pleased to announce that our debut show is up and ready to go! This show features an exclusive interview with Jonathan Kozol. It also includes a compilation of voices and testimony from youth, teachers, administrators and education activists from around the country (including Matt Damon) during the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action that occurred on July 30th, 2011 in Washington DC. Currently, the two best ways to download the show are through (please click on either to link to the show). Education Radio 1: Kozol Interview/SOS Rally & March on Audioport  Education Radio 1: Kozol Interview/SOS Rally & March on Internet Archive . If you use Google Chrome as your browser, you will need to use Internet Archive.  Please let us know if you have any difficulty accessing our show.  

For a taste of what's to come, check out the preview of next week's show: Education Radio 1: SOS Rally & March

We're not done yet! Wisconsin voters on Tuesday tossed two Republican state senators out of office in recall elections, sending a message that they won't tolerate the politics of extremism. Although the recall elections fell short of the goal of turning over control of the State Senate, we’re not done yet – and we’re not going away. The grassroots nature of what’s happening across our state will lay a foundation for future elections, resulting in a stronger democracy that represents the voice of working families. We have made astonishing gains in an uphill battle ! Wisconsin Education Association Council | August 10, 2011 Anti-Union Law Fuels Massive Voter Turnout For Historic Wisconsin Recall Democracy Now! WI Recall Marks Labor Win; Election Money Raises Question of U.S. as "Democracy or Dollar-ocracy?" Democracy Now! Wisconsin Recalls Replace Two Republican Senators in a Rebuke to Governor's Anti-Labor Agenda John Nichols | The Nation

"I believe that teachers in our public schools are not as the White House seems to think: merely the technicians of mechanical proficiency. I believe our teachers are warriors for justice, working on the front lines in the struggle for democracy." Jonathan Kozol Save Our Schools Conference July 28, 2011 "Public education... is the largest shared experience we all have... so if we don't have strong public schools, we will not have a strong society... its just not possible." Sabrina Stevens Shupe Save Our Schools July 28, 2011

Education Radio reporter Tim Scott interviewing Matt Damon

Last weekend I traveled to D.C., with fellow field reporter Tim Scott, to cover the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action . We spent two days at the S.O.S. conference, participating in sessions with students, teachers, education scholars that dealt with a wide range of issues around inequity in public schooling. We interviewed Jonathon Kozol, Diane Ravitch, Michelle Fine, Diane Levin, the Brooklyn teachers/filmmakers behind “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,” as well as students and teachers from across the country. We heard personal testimonies of what is happening in schools, in classrooms and in unions around the nation, and we left each day both frustrated and inspired by the stories we heard. We then joined the rally and march on the Ellipse on Saturday – interviewing more teachers (as well as Matt Damon – and if you haven’t seen this fun clip from the media tent at the rally, be sure to check it out here ). We have returned from the even...