Talk Out of School

Diane Ravitch on why she changed her mind on education reform

Episode Summary

After a recap of local education news, Leonie replays part of an interview from a year ago with education historian and critic Diane Ravitch a year ago, about why she went from a pro-charter, pro-testing neo-conservative to one of the most progressive thinkers in the field of education today.

Episode Notes

Leonie Haimson, Letter to the members of the Panel on Educational Policy on how they should exercise more rigorous oversight on contracts, privacy and class size, https://leoniehaimson.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-members-of-the-panel

Leonie Haimson, This year’s drop in NYC state test scores: sound and fury, signifying nothing, https://leoniehaimson.substack.com/p/this-years-drop-in-nyc-state-test

NY Daily News, Mayor, Mamdani suing to block law giving NYC paraprofessionals $10,000 boost , https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/08/19/mayor-mamdani-lets-bill-giving-nyc-paraprofessionals-10000-boost-lapse-into-law/

NY Times, Teachers’ Union Boss Vows ‘All-Out-War’ if Mamdani Doesn’t Back Bonuses https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/nyregion/nyc-mamdani-teachers-union-bonuses.html

VPN mentor, Personal Data of Thousands of Special Needs Children Exposed Online, https://www.vpnmentor.com/news/report-encore-breach/

Diane Ravitch, An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else, https://www.amazon.com/dp/0231220294?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback

Diane Ravitch, How the Billionaire Boys Club paved the way for Betsy Devos, https://dianeravitch.net/2016/12/14/how-the-billionaire-boys-club-paved-the-way-for-betsy-devos/