National Standards in American Education

Updating her highly acclaimed book, Diane Ravitch presents the latest information on the debate over national standards and assessments."Ensuring a rigorous liberal education for all is asking a lot in a contentious democracy like ours. Is it possible to educate every child to the same high standards? Is it politically feasible? Will raising standards help or hinder poor minority children? Ravitch sees where these land mines are buried and her book provides an indispensable diagram for getting around them." The Wall Street Journal"A simple message lies at the heart of Diane Ravitch's new book.... If clear and consistent goals of learning could be set for all American children, rich and poor, gifted and ordinary, then all of these children would end up better educated than they now are likely to be." The New York Times"No one could be more qualified to write a book about national standards in education than Diane Ravitch." The Washington Times"The ongoing debate about national education standards and assessment in the U.S. has created as much confusion as it has solutions. What has been needed is an examination of the educational, historical, political, and social issues related to the development of such standards. Ravitch provides such a foundation." ChoiceDiane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of educational research and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, is a senior research fellow at New York University and a nonresident senior fellow in the Governmental Studies program at the Brookings Institution.