No 'public school' left behind: Diane Ravitch confronts school privatization'; KUOW/NPR

Former Ass’t. Secretary of Education, historian of education and a professor of education at NYU, Diane Ravitch speaks with local educator Jessie Hagopian about her  book Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America’s Public Schools’ in which she discusses the corporate & political interests  committed to reshaping public schools into business-like models. She highlights the efforts of activists, parents & educators to resist the ‘disrupters’ of public education. Among them, a group she calls "the Billionaire Boys Club." She also draws attention to the costly effects of standardized testing, which she says give "privilege to the privileged" and subtract from the purpose and mandate of public schools -- “To encourage students to think and act as citizens of a democratic society, prepared to do their part in making it better for everyone.”