Distinguished Educators Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier to Support the Work of DSC

DSC is fortunate to have an exceptionally capable and distinguished Advisory Council. Our Council members—Linda Darling-Hammond, Howard Gardner, Paul Houston, P. David Pearson, and Wendy Puriefoy—need no introduction. They rank among the nation’s leading lights in educational policy, leadership, research, and practice

Now two other luminaries have agreed to join our Council and give us the benefit of their wisdom: Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch.

Deborah Meier has been an inspiration to progressive educators for decades. Founder in the 1970s of the famed Central Park East Secondary School in Harlem and a network of small high schools throughout New York City, Deb has been a pioneer in translating Deweyian principles into educational practice. Recipient of a MacArthur “genius award” and currently Senior Scholar in the School of Education at New York University, she continues to write, speak, and consult at an exhausting pace.

Diane Ravitch is one of this country’s most prolific and influential historians of education. She is the author of 10 books (and editor of 14 others), including most recently The Death and Life of the Great American School System, a devastating critique of current reform efforts, including test-based accountability systems, charter schools, and choice and voucher systems. Diane is also at New York University, where she is Research Professor of Education, and she is Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

Many will be familiar with Bridging Differences, the Education Week blog that Deborah and Diane have co-authored since 2007.

We at DSC are delighted, and very grateful, that Deb and Diane will be helping to guide us as we move forward.