Diane Ravitch

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Diane Silvers Ravitch
Born	Diane Silvers July 1, 1938 (1938-07-01) (age 71) Houston, Texas
Residence	Brooklyn, New York
Nationality	United States
Ethnicity	Jewish
Education	Wellesley College, B.A., 1960 Columbia University, Ph.D., 1975
Employer	research professor of education, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development senior fellow, Brookings Institution senior fellow,
Board member of	Albert Shanker Institute, director Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History advisory board [Common Core, Washington, D.C., co-chair of board], Core Knowledge, board of directors]
Spouse(s)	Richard Ravitch (lawyer, businessman) (June 26, 1960–December, 1986) (divorced)
Children	Joseph, Steven (deceased), Michael
Parents	Walter Cracker Silvers (businessperson) Ann Celia (Katz) Silvers
Awards	Delta Kappa Gamma Educators' Award 1975, for The Great School Wars, New York City, 1805-1973 1984, for The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945- 1980 Ambassador of Honor Award, English-Speaking Union, 1984, for The Troubled Crusade 1985, for The Schools We Deserve: Reflections on the Educational Crises of Our Times Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, 1984-85 Henry Allen Moe Prize, American Philosophical Society, 1986 designated honorary citizen, State of California Senate Rules Committee, 1988, for work on state curriculum Alumnae Achievement Award, Wellesley College, 1989 Medal of Distinction, Polish National Council of Education, 1991 Literary Lion, New York Public Library, 1992 Award for Distinguished Service, New York Academy of Public Education, 1994 Horace Kidger Award, New England History Teachers Association, 1998 Award of Excellence, St. John's University School of Education, 1998 John Dewey Education Award, United Federation of Teachers, 2005 Guggenheim fellowship Honorary Life Trustee, New York Public Library Gaudium Award from the Breukelein Institute, 2005 Honorary degrees from Williams College Reed College Amherst College State University of New York Ramapo College Saint Joseph's College (New York) Middlebury College Language Schools Union College
Website Diane Ravitch Website
Notes [1][2][3][4][5]

Diane Silvers Ravitch (b. July 1, 1938) is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and former United States Assistant Secretary of Education who is now a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education.

She was born in 1938 in Houston, Texas, where she went to public schools. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, has a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and lives in Brooklyn, New York City.

Her most recent book The Language Police (2003) was a criticism of both left-wing and right-wing attempts to stifle the study and expression of views deemed unworthy by those groups. (See political correctness and multiculturalism). The book asserts that "pressure groups from the political right and left have wrested control of the language and content of textbooks and standardized exams, often at the expense of the truth (in the case of history), of literary quality (in the case of literature), and of education in general". ^[6] Publishers Weekly wrote: "Ravitch contends that these sanitized materials sacrifice literary quality and historical accuracy in order to escape controversy." ^[7]

Ravitch began her career as an editorial assistant at The New Leader magazine, a small journal devoted to democratic ideas. In 1975, she became a historian of education with a Ph.D. from Columbia University. At that time she worked closely with Teachers College president Lawrence A. Cremin. Her critique of multiculturalism and her calls for higher standards in public life have drawn fire.

However, she is not easy to characterize politically as she was appointed to public office by both President of the United States George H. W. Bush and his successor Bill Clinton. In her political views and in her record she is independent.

In 2005, she received the John Dewey Award from the United Federation of Teachers of New York City; the Gaudium Award from the Breukelein Institute of Brooklyn; and the Uncommon Book award from the Hoover Institution. She is also a board member of the Albert Shanker Institute.

She has participated in a "blog debate" with Steinhardt School colleague Deborah Meier on the website of Education Week since February 26, 2007.^[8]

Contents 1 Memberships 2 Published works 2.1 Books 2.2 Journal articles 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Memberships

• International PEN
• Historical Society
• American Historical Association
• National Academy of Education
• Society of American Historians
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences

[edit] Published works

[edit] Books

• The Revisionists Revised: A Critique of the Radical Attack on the Schools (1978) ISBN 0465069436
• The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945-1980 (1985) ISBN 0465087574
• The Schools We Deserve (1985) ISBN 0465072364
• Schools in Cities: Consensus and Conflict in American Educational History (1983) ISBN 0841908508
• Against Mediocrity: The Humanities in America's High Schools (1984) ISBN 084190944X
• Challenges to the Humanities (1985) ISBN 0841910170
• The Great School Wars: A History of the New York City Public Schools (1988) ISBN 0465027040
• What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know: A Report on the First National Assessment of History and Literature (1989) ISBN 0060158492
• The American Reader : Words That Moved a Nation (1990) ISBN 0060164808
• National Standards in American Education: A Consumer's Guide (1995) ISBN 0815773528
• New Schools for a New Century: The Redesign of Urban Education (1997) ISBN 0300078749
• City Schools: Lessons from New York (2000) ISBN 0801863414
• Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform (2000) ISBN 0684844176
• The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn (2003) ISBN 0375414827
• Making Good Citizens: Education and Civil Society (2003) ISBN 0300099177
• Kid Stuff: Marketing Sex and Violence to America's Children (2003) ISBN 0801873274
• Forgotten Heroes of American Education: The Great Tradition of Teaching Teachers (2006) ISBN 1593114486
• The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know (2006) ISBN 0195077296

[edit] Journal articles

• "The Scars and Trophies of a Reformer". Academic Questions 18 (2): 7-19. March 2005. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Diane Ravitch Website
• Diane Ravitch - Faculty Bio NYU profile
• Diane Ravitch - Brookings Institution Brookings profile
• Kakutani, Michiko (April 29, 2003). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Young Minds Force-Fed With Indigestible Texts". New York Times: p. E7. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/29/books/books-of-the-times-young-minds-force-fed-with-indigestible-texts.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.  (Review of Language Police)
• Helfand, Duke (April 26, 2003). "Textbooks Distort History, Critic Says". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/apr/26/local/me-ravitch26. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.