Exclusive Diane Ravitch Interview on No Child Left Behind

Economic Policy Institute. (2010, March 10). Exclusive Diane Ravitch Interview on No Child Left Behind.

Author and education historian Diane Ravitch supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, she confessed that at the time, the promise of the legislation appeared well-intentioned and a good idea. Now she spoke with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) about why she now believes the policy poses a threat to public education. She witnessed how children were over-tested, and the curriculum narrowed so that social sciences, arts, general science, etc. were not prioritized in the wake of testing and made way for the privatization of education. Her revelation of the harm of No Child Left Behind was not a dramatic epiphany but an evolution of witnessing the harm of NCLB on public education. Ravitch believes to fix NCLB means backing away from punishing teachers and students. We also need to change the rhetoric from punishment to support so that the data used does not harm students or teachers.