Diane Ravitch's Blog

My website is dianeravitch.com. I specialize in the history of education and serve as a Research Professor of Education at New York University. Originally from Houston, Texas, I attended public schools in Houston from kindergarten through high school and graduated from Wellesley College in 1960. I earned my Ph.D. in the history of American education in 1975. I have two sons who were educated in private schools in New York City. I am also a proud grandmother to four grandsons: two of them attended religious schools, one is currently in a public school in New York City, and the youngest is set to join that same wonderful public school in Brooklyn.

International

English

Blog

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#1033767

United States

#337201

News and Media

#9361

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

Is Harvard Teaching Remedial Math? Trump Says It Is.

2 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

In his epic battle to punish the nation’s most prestigious university, Trump claimed that Harvard is teaching remedial math. That was his way of saying that its standards of admission are very low because Harvard wants to recruit unqualified nonwhite students. Trump has refused to release his own academic record but his public statements indicate that he is in no position to tell Harvard whom to admit or what to teach. Only 3.6% of the students who applied to Harvard last year were admitted.
Federal Appeals Court Allows Trump to Exclude AP from Press Pool

2 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Trump got very angry at the AP, an international press agency, because it insisted on calling the Gulf of Mexico by its rightful name. It refused to follow Trump’s renaming it as “the Gulf of America.”So Trump punished the AP by excluding it from the press pool on Air Force 1 and in other gatherings. A three-judge panel voted 2-1 to allow Trump to continue choosing which press gets access to him. Two of the judges were appointed by Trump.
Heather Cox Richardson: History Matters. Truth Matters. Here is a Plan.

2 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Heather Cox Richardson is a historian so naturally she recoils at the daily misuse and distortion of history by Trump and his appointees. They don’t know much about history, and they want to distort it for partisan purposes. She has a plan to set the record straight, based on evidence and facts. Read on. She writes: In April, John Phelan, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy under President Donald J.
U.S. Supreme Court Allows DOGE to Access Your Most Sensitive Personal Data

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

DOGE (or DOGS, as I prefer to call them) just won the authority to see your most important personal data, thanks to the rightwing bloc of six on the SupremeCourt., It’s really unbelievable. There is legislation protecting our personal data. But the Court split 6-3 to allow these mostly very young, very inexperienced kids to review and gather our personal data. The Court also shielded members of the DOGE group from public scrutiny. The six Republicans on the Court claim to be conservatives.
It’s Dangerous to Call Him “TACO” Trump

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Tim O’Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion News. He writes here about why it is dangerous to call Trump “TACO Trump,” a moniker given to him by Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times. TACO means “Trump Always Chickens Out.” It refers to his brash statements about draconian tariffs, followed by his usual backing down and deferring them.
Florida: DeSantis Degraded Education at Every Level

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Governor Ron DeSantis has done everything possible to destroy education in Florida. He apparently hates public schools. He pushed through an expansion of vouchers that provides a subsidy to every student in the state, no matter if the family is rich or poor. Of course, most of those using the voucher never attended public schools. Most vouchers go to students in religious schools. Florida currently spends $4 billion annually on vouchers, a sum sure to increase.
Glenn Kessler Fact-Checks Marco Rubio’s Claim that No One Died When Foreign Aid Stopped

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Glenn Kessler is a professional fact-checker for The Washington Post. He recently reviewed a controversy about the consequences of the Trump administration’s shutdown of USAID. Democrats said that people have died because of the cuts; Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not agree. Kessler reviews the record. He writes: Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “No one has died because of USAID —”Rep.
Elon’s Tweets Today About Trump, Trump’s Responses

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

The most famous and powerful bros broke up today. Elon Musk and Donald Trump turned on one another. Elon had spent months slashing and burning the federal government, destroying agencies and Departments. Congress sat back and watched, happy to relinquish their Constitutional powers to the richest man in the world. No, he can’t close down USAID, which is Congressionally authorized. No, he can’t shutter the U.S. Department of Education, without the consent of Congress.
Heather Cox Richardson: GOP Budget Bill Is Packed with Deadly Cuts and Lies

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Heather Cox Richardson warns about the Republicans’ “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which cuts Medicaid and other vital services while increasing the deficit. Republicans cover up the cruel cuts to vital services by lying about them. She writes:The Republicans’ giant budget reconciliation bill has focused attention on the drastic cuts the Trump administration is making to the American government.
Jan Resseger: Trump Guts Civil Rights Laws

3 weeks ago | dianeravitch.net | Diane Ravitch

Jan Resseger reviews Trump’s vigorous crusade to eliminate civil rights laws by inverting their meaning. These laws were passed to break the monopoly held by white men in hiring and promotions. But now, any program that favors women and nonwhites is treated as a crime. Universities and corporations that once featured their efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion are now warned by the federal government that these efforts discriminate against white men and must be abolished.