D Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System - Book Review by Jim Cumming

Ravitch, D. (2010) The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How testing and choice are undermining education, New York, Basic Books.

 Reviewed by Jim Cumming

There are number of reasons why this publication is noteworthy. First, it is authoritative given that it is compiled by a former Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Education who was responsible for many of these reforms that were initiated in the early 1990s. Second, it is a rigorous and evidence-based account containing over 350 footnotes. Third, it is highly relevant in the Australian context, given many of the education policies currently being implemented in this country have been operating in the US for some time.

Although Ravitch could be accused of experiencing a 'road to Damascus' conversion-from reforming national bureaucrat to fervent defender of public schools-this highly personalised and detailed narrative provides sufficient evidence for the reader to form their own judgment with regard to this author's motives, assumptions and arguments. Her fundamental approach to the book is to examine reform efforts conducted in two local areas-San Diego and New York City-as well as at the national level (e.g. the 'No Child Left Behind Policy' in 2001), all of which are deemed to reflect similar ideas and principles.

Of more than passing interest to Australian readers will be the analysis of the role played by Joel Klein-Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education-given that he was invited by the Australian government in 2008 to provide information and advice to the then Education Minister Julia Gillard. Ravitch's analysis is that Klein applied a set of business principles to the running of America's largest school system that resulted in an undue emphasis on accountability, choice and ranking-for students, staff and schools alike. Her assessment of Klein's reorganisation of this education system is one of "a corporate model of tightly centralized, hierarchical, top-down control, with all decisions made at Tweed and strict supervision of every classroom to make sure the orders flowing from headquarters were precisely implemented" (p.73).

An interesting chapter entitled "The Billionaire's Boys' Club" explores the changing role of education foundations in the United States. Evidence suggests the traditional large-scale private sponsors of elementary and secondary schooling (e.g. the Annenberg, Lilly, Packard and Kellogg foundations) have been surpassed by a new breed of philanthropists from the business world (e.g. the Gates, Walton and Broad foundations). Ravitch depicts these billionaire entrepreneurs and corporate leaders as "the new titans of foundation world" who are operating very differently from their predecessors. In her view, not only are the new foundations assuming a much more proactive role in education, but they are also accountable only to themselves. In her view, "there is something fundamentally antidemocratic about relinquishing control of the public education policy agenda to private foundations run by society's wealthiest people" (p. 200).

The concluding chapter is essentially a call to arms designed to breathe life back into the American school system. Ravitch argues that "it is time to reconsider not only the specifics of current reforms, but also our very definition of reform" (p.225). To that end she advances a brief set of proposals pertaining to curriculum, assessment and evaluation. In summary, this book represents a substantive review of school reform in the United States with warnings that might be well heeded by other countries in the process of implementing similar policies and strategies.