Diane Ravitch, a one-time assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education under former President George Bush and nationally acclaimed author, is addressing the Louisiana School Boards Association annual conference at the Cajundome Thursday afternoon.
Diane Ravitch, a distinguished education writer, researcher and outspoken critic of charter schools, vouchers and other reform measures Gov. Bobby Jindal is touting, is scheduled to address attendees of the Louisiana School Boards Association annual conference at the Cajundome Thursday afternoon.
Ravitch, who served in the U.S. Department of Education under former President George Bush, is the author of "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education," a March and April 2010 New York Times best-seller that gives Ravitch's take on test scores, privatization of public education, charter schools and other key education reform issues Louisiana is facing when the session starts March 12.
Louisiana School Boards Association researcher Don Whittinghill tells The Advertiser that Ravitch's speech will relay the message that the new direction of public education is "making a serious mistake with our children."
The daily reports that her speech begins at 3 p.m., though the LSBA conference schedule online lists the session time as 3:30 p.m.