Diane Ravitch, a one-time leader of the school reform movement who has since become one of its most prominent critics, will be delivering a lecture at 5:15 p.m., Sept. 30, at Memorial Auditorium at Stanford University. The talk will be on her new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools.

In the book, Ravitch argues against privatization and for public education, and in a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, puts forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve public education. In her lecture, she will discuss the topics she addresses in her book, including the strengths of U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how to effectively address the challenges.

The talk will be followed by a moderated discussion with Ravitch; Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford Graduate School of Education and founding director of Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education; Eric Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University; and Channa Mae Cook, former principal and teacher and now a doctoral student at the GSE.

The presentation is free and open to the public, with the doors opening at 5 p.m. It is hosted by SCOPE and co-sponsored by the GSE. Ravitch will sign copies of her new book following the presentation.

Ravitch delivered the GSE's Cubberley Lecture three years ago and discussed the unrealistic standards set by No Child Left Behind. (Click here to watch an excerpt.)

An education historian, Diane Ravitch is research professor of education at New York University. From 1991 to 1993, she was assistant secretary of education; from 1997 to 2004, she was a member of the National Assessment Governing Board. In the mid 2000's, Ravitch's thinking on school reform changed markedly, as she assessed the results of the No Child Left Behind Policy and deemed it a failure, an intellectual journey she chronicles in her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (2010). She has authored 11 books and numerous articles. She is an honorary life trustee of the New York Public Library and a former Guggenheim Fellow. She was a member of the Koret Task Force at the Hoover Institution from 1999 to 2009. She was a member of the board of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation from 1996 to 2009. Her blog is one of the most widely read blogs on education policy.

Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University where she is founding director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. She is a former president of the American Educational Research Association and member of the National Academy of Education. Her research and policy work focus on issues of educational equity, teaching quality, and school reform. In 2008, she served as director of President Obama's education policy transition team. Her most recent book is Getting Teacher Evaluation Right:  What Really Matters for Effectiveness and Improvement (2013). 

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He has been a leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues with his work frequently entering into the design of national and international educational policy. His research spans such diverse areas as the impact of teacher quality; high stakes accountability, equity, and efficiency in school finance; and class size reduction, along with the role of cognitive skills in international growth and development. His pioneering analysis measuring teacher quality through growth in student achievement forms the basis for current research into the value-added of teachers and schools. His most recent book, Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School (2013), describes the cost to the United States of not improving its schools.

Channa Mae Cook taught high school English and was a literacy coach in Los Angeles Unified School District before she went to New Orleans in 2007 and co-founded Sojourner Truth Academy — an open-enrollment high school designed to prepare students for both college and community leadership through a social justice framework.  Cook served as principal from the school's inception until July of 2011. She is now a doctoral student at the GSE, studying race, inequality, and language in education.

For more information about the event, please contact Terrance Turner.