Diane Ravitch: Former 'No Child Left Behind' Advocate Turns Critic

Diane Ravitch interview with Steve Inskeep of NPR, Former 'No Child Left Behind' Advocate Turns Critic, 3/2/2010
from npr

In 2005, former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch wrote, "We should thank President George W. Bush and Congress for passing the No Child Left Behind Act ... All this attention and focus is paying off for younger students, who are reading and solving mathematics problems better than their parents' generation."
Four years later, Ravitch has changed her mind.
"I was known as a conservative advocate of many of these policies," Ravitch says. "But I've looked at the evidence and I've concluded they're wrong. They've put us on the wrong track. I feel passionately about the improvement of public education and I don't think any of this is going to improve public education."

Guadalcanal Diaries 2

with the Pacific being shown on HBO. I thought I'd post this, which I never did to accompany part 1 from 3 years ago. Jon Seda plays John Basilone who was a medal of honor winner
audio from: http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2002/aug/guadalcanal/index.html
great image source
http://www.guadalcanal.homestead.com/
Siege Marked First American Offensive of World War II
Aug. 7, 2002 -- Sixty years ago today, thousands of U.S. Marines splashed ashore on a remote island in the southwest Pacific, called Guadalcanal. The first American offensive of World War II, their mission was to seize an airfield. What followed was six months of desperate struggle against not only the Japanese military, but heat, jungle, rain, disease and hunger.
In a two-part series for NPR/National Geographic Radio Expeditions, Neal Conan visits some of the famous battle sites and talks with veterans about the crucial struggle.

Diane Ravitch: WNYC Interview 3/8/2010, How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

from The Brian Lehrer Show
Diane Ravitch interview with Brian Lehrer, 3/8/2010

Education expert Diane Ravitch discusses her new book The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, and explains why she has completely changed her mind about how to fix the nation's schools.

Jump, Jive And Wail

by the great Louis Prima. More about Louis here

Baby, baby it looks like it's gonna hail
Baby, baby it looks like it's gonna hail
You better come inside
Let me teach you how to jive an' wail
CHORUS:
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail away!
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale
Mama's in the backyard
Learning how to jive an' wail
(chorus)
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male
One good thing about him
He knows how to jive an' wail
Jack and Jill went up the hill to get a pail
Jack and Jill went up the hill to get a pail
Jill stayed up,
She wants to learn how to jive an' wail

Nellie McKay: The Very Thought Of You



The very thought of you,
and I forget to do,
the little ordinary things
that everyone ought to do.
I’m living in a kind of daydream.
I’m happy as a king.
And foolish though it may seem
to me, that’s everything.
The mere idea of you,
the longing here for you…
You’ll never know how slow the moments go
‘til I’m near to you.
I see your face in every flower,
your eyes in stars above.
It’s just the thought of you,
the very thought of you,
my love.
The mere idea of you,
the longing here for you…
You’ll never know how slow the moments go
‘til I’m near to you
I see your face in every flower,
your eyes in stars above.
It’s just the thought the of you,
the very thought of you,
my love.

Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind Has Left US Schools with Legacy of “Institutionalized Fraud”

check out democracy now for a great, extended interview of Diane Ravitch by Juan Gonzalez, two nyc treasures. Not to mention Amy Goodman, who is a treasure as well.

Leading Education Scholar Diane Ravitch: No Child Left Behind Has Left US Schools with Legacy of “Institutionalized Fraud”
As the Obama administration touts No Child Left Behind and the “Race to the Top” competition for school grants, we speak to leading education scholar and former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch. She’s long been known as an advocate of No Child Left Behind, charter schools, standardized testing, and using the free market to improve schools. But she’s had a radical change of heart, as chronicled in her latest book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Ravitch says, “The evidence says No Child Left Behind was a failure, and charter schools aren’t going to be any better.”