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Introducing Ravitch: Steve Zimmer and Matt Damon
LA Unified board member Steve Zimmer, who just spent a weekend with Superintendent John Deasy talking education policy in Washington D.C., is getting another side of the story next week when he hosts Diane Ravitch – and actor Matt Damon – at Occidental College. Zimmer is an adjunct instructor in Urban and Environmental Policy.
Ravitch is in town to promote her new book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.” She will be speaking and taking questions with a book signing to follow. Details here.
Once a stalwart of education reform — she served as an assistant education secretary under President George H.W. Bush and was a firm supporter of No Child Left Behind — Ravitch has soured on the ideas of charter schools, vouchers and other choice initiatives. She’s also turned her back on standardized test-based accountability systems.
“The research says it does not make education better. It is demoralizing to teachers and it’s harmful to children,” she told LA School Report. “In what sense is that reform?”
For Ravitch fans who can’t make it to Occidental, she’ll be speaking the next night at California State University Northridge. Details here.
“If you like Matt Damon, that’s the one you should come to,” she suggests. “He’ll be introducing me.”
Damon, who has proclaimed his love of public schools, was recently outed by Time magazine for choosing to send his own children to private school.
His reason: LA public schools are not “progressive” enough.
Superintendent John Deasy’s retort:
Previous Posts: Ravitch and Rhee: Same Goals, But Very Different Approaches; Matt Damon and His Really Hard Public School Dilemma; NYU Professor’s Non-Apology to Parent Revolution Head