When the actor Matt Damon stood before a capacity crowd inside the Cal State Northridge student union last night, he smiled sheepishly and said he wasn’t surprised to see so many star-struck supporters in attendance. After all, he said, he was introducing the education historian and anti-corporate reform activist Diane Ravitch. Ravitch was appearing as...

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...