Reign of Error Assignment: Exploring Ravitch's Critique of Education

This assignment analyzes Diane Ravitch's 'Reign of Error,' focusing on her critique of various education reform movements. The assignment addresses several key questions, including the effectiveness of merit pay for teachers, Ravitch's stance on teacher tenure, the impact of Teach for America (TFA), the unintended consequences of Michelle Rhee's corporate reform, and the performance and hidden agendas of charter schools. Ravitch argues that merit pay doesn't improve student achievement and can corrupt school culture. She defends teacher tenure as a guarantee of due process and criticizes the TFA model, highlighting its lack of significant performance differences compared to non-credentialed teachers. Furthermore, the assignment explores the negative effects of Rhee's reforms, such as increased segregation and declining test scores. Finally, it examines charter schools, revealing Ravitch's view that they are not necessarily more effective than public schools and potentially serve hidden agendas related to class, race, and corruption. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of Ravitch's arguments and their implications for the American public school system.

Running head: REIGN OF ERROR 1
Reign of error
Name
Institution
Date of submission

REIGN OF ERROR 2
1. According to Ravitch, what is the goal for merit pay for teachers? Does merit pay for
teachers work to increase student achievement scores? Explain?
Teachers merit pay has received a lot of critics for a while. The Obama administration, for
instance, fought hard to put such programs into action. The aim was to enhance collaboration
and teamwork among the teachers thereby improving the performance of the students. However,
the merit pay reform did not increase the student’s performance but instead corrupted the culture
of various schools. Ravitch discovered that despite the bonuses offered to the best and effective
teachers, there is usually no difference in performance between the treatment and control groups
as observed by a study in Nashville. In fact, in some schools, the achievement scores of the
students deteriorate. According to Ravitch, merit pay for teachers is a reform that never works
neither dies.
2. Discuss how Ravitch responds to the notion that “schools will be more successful if we
get rid of tenure for teachers since firing bad teachers is the key to improving education”?
Ravitch believes removing tenure for teachers will affect school performance rather than
improve. She explained that tenure for teachers would be a guarantee of due process to
avoidance of capricious firings. She believes a teacher should be fired on the grounds of a just
cause. No documented evidence that indicates low test scores due to the presence of a tenure.
Also, no evidence has yet shown improvement of education through higher achievements when
teachers have no tenure. According to Ravitch, getting rid of tenure will make it harder to
staffing schools especially in the most deprived neighborhoods. Loss of tenure and firing bad
teachers is not a solution since it generates enormous demoralization to the remaining teachers.
They, therefore, live in fear as their job service and compliance is left under the whim of the
administrators.

Running head: REIGN OF ERROR 3
3. What does Ravitch have to say about the opinion that Teach for America (TFA) recruits
teachers and leaders whose high expectations will one day ensure that every child will have
an excellent education?
Teach for America was a reform that gained much attention primarily from the young people.
The TFA teachers were trained only for five weeks, and then they were posted in different high-
poverty schools. They were not offered wraparound services such as family support, nutrition,
and healthcare services. The leaders of the Teach for America movement had strong faith and
expectations from the TFA teachers as they believed it would be effective in reaching every
student especially those from poor backgrounds. Ravitch, however, shows that there is no
significant difference in performance between the TFA teachers and other new non-credentialed
teachers. They also perform less usually at the beginning as compared to teachers with teaching
credentials. As such, their overall impact has received mixed reviews.
4. According to Ravitch, what were some of the unintended consequences of Michelle
Rhee’s corporate reform movement in education?
When Michelle Rhee introduced the corporate reform movement in the education sector, it was
received with different views by the public. Some believed it was just a gamble like other
reforms in the urban education reform. Rhee’s reform was aimed at better achievement (test
scores), effective teachers (fantasy teachers), and school choice (school segregation). Ravitch,
however, believes that Rhee’s corporate reform movement brought more harm to the education
system. The battle for urban education, for instance, led to bigger desegregation among the
Whites and Black middle class where they abandon the urban schools. The reforms as well led to
an overall decline in performance and test scores mainly due to the removal of tenure for the

REIGN OF ERROR 4
teachers. Ravitch believed that these unintended consequences brought about by the corporate
reform movement was due to lack of experience in the education sector by Michelle Rhee.
5. According to Ravitch have charter schools been shown to be more effective at raising test
scores than public schools? Explain? What does she see as the hidden agenda with charter
schools? Explain?
Contrary to the notion held by the school reformers on the public schools’ performance, Ravitch
explains that education of the public school is not broken, neither is it declining or failing.
Charter schools were created to improve the performance of low-performing public schools.
Charter schools have the advantage over public schools since they have the authority to cherry
pick. They, therefore, select kids that have high chances of achieving high test scores. They also
reject kids with disabilities and English learners. Nevertheless, in some schools, there is no
difference in test score performance between these two schools according to Ravitch. However,
some Charter schools perform better. She adds that the secret agenda of the Charter schools was
to be a weapon that would enhance segregation along the lines of class, corruption, nepotism,
and race.

Running head: REIGN OF ERROR 5
References
Kretchmar, K., Sondel, B., & Ferrare, J. J. (2014). Mapping the terrain: Teach For America,
charter school reform, and corporate sponsorship. Journal of Education Policy, 29(6),
742-759.
Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of error: The hoax of the privatization movement and the danger to
America's public schools. Vintage.