EdSpeak

Diane Ravitch

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About This Book

Have you ever heard of Suggestopedia? Do you know what a gallery walk is? How about the difference between a stem and a foil?

Maybe you don't think it's necessary to know these education terms. Diane Ravitch thinks otherwise.

Education, like most professions, has its own unique vocabulary that is often unfamiliar to outsiders.But unlike those of other professions, Ravitch contends, the language of education must be clear and intelligible to all. Because education in large part determines the future of our society, economy, and culture, it's crucial that education issues be understood by the general public. And to understand the issues, we need to understand the specialized language used in the field.

In this book, Ravitch demystifies the often-obscure and ever-changing lingo of the education field. With more than 500 entries, EdSpeak translates what Ravitch refers to as the "strange tongue" of pedagogese into plain English, adding historical context and lively commentary along the way.

This glossary will serve as a valuable resource both for veteran educators who need to stay abreast of newly emerging terminology and for newcomers to the profession--be they teachers, administrators, parents, students, or just citizens who care about what happens in the classroom.

See the book's table of contents and read excerpts.

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About the Author

DIANE RAVITCH is a historian of education. She is Research Professor of Education at New York University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. She is the author of numerous histories of U.S. education, including The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn (2003); Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform (2000); The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945–1980 (1983); and The Great School Wars: A History of the New York City Public Schools (1974). 

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