Diane Ravitch

I was born in Houston, Texas, in 1938. I am third of eight children. I attended the public schools in Houston from kindergarten through high school (San Jacinto High School, 1956, yay!). I then went to Wellesley College, where I graduated in 1960.

Within weeks after graduation from Wellesley, I married. The early years of my marriage were devoted to raising my children. I had three sons: Joseph, Steven, and Michael. Steven died of leukemia in 1966. I now have four grandsons, Nico, Aidan, Elijah, and Asher.

I began working on my first book in the late 1960s. I also began graduate studies at Columbia University. My mentor was Lawrence A. Cremin, a great historian of education. The resulting book was a history of the New York City public schools, called "The Great School Wars," published in 1974. I received my Ph.D. in the history of American education in 1975. In 1977, I wrote "The Revisionists Revised." In 1983 came "The Troubled Crusade." In 1985, "The Schools We Deserve." In 1987, with my friend Checker Finn, "What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know?" In 1991, "The American Reader." In 1995, "National Standards in American Education." In 2000, "Left Back." In 2003, "The Language Police." In 2006, "The English Reader," with my son Michael Ravitch. Also in 2006, "Edspeak." I have also edited several books with Joseph Viteritti.

“The Language Police” was a national bestseller. It remains relevant today because it contains a history of censorship in textbooks and education publishing.

My 2010 book, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education," was a national bestseller. It addressed the most important education issues of our time. It is a very personal account of why I changed my views about education policies like standardized testing, school choice, and merit pay. I had been a conservative for decades, but about 2007, began to see that I was wrong. This book is the result.

My 2013 book "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools" was a national bestseller. It documents the false narrative that has been used to attack American public education, and names names. It also contains specific, evidence-based recommendations about how we can improve our schools and our society.

My 2020 book, “Slaying Goliath,” tells the stories of the people and groups that are bravely resisting the privatization movement. It contains an exhaustive list of the individuals, foundations, think tanks, and organization that are wielding vast funds to destroy public schools and replace them with private and religious alternatives that choose the students they want.

In 2020, I co-published “Edspeak and Doubletalk” with veteran educator Nancy Bailey, a concise guide to jargon and deceptive language.

To follow my ongoing work read my blog at dianeravitch.net, where there is a lively conversation among educators and parents about the future of education. I started the blog in 2012. It passed 40 million page views a decade later and continues to grow.

Diane Ravitch

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