President Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” school reform initiative has local school districts and states scrambling for cash. The program is touted as a fresh approach to school reform. But it may have more in common with previous efforts than its proponents admit. So says Diane Ravitch. Ravitch was an Assistant Secretary of Education under the first President Bush. She was also a staunch supporter of school reforms like No Child Left Behind. But in a new book, Ravitch recants many of her former positions, and warns against the reforms that have reshaped public school systems in Chicago and around the country. Her book is called The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. Ravitch talks more about her book.

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EVENTS with Ravitch:
April 9: DePaul University, Student Center, Room 325, 1-3 p.m.
April 9: UIC College of Education, Student Center East, 5-8 p.m.
April 10: National School Boards Association, McCormick Place West, Room W470AB, 1:30-2:45 p.m.

Music Button:   Stanton Moore, “Root Cellar”, from the CD Groove Alchemy, (Telarc)