Diane Ravitch released her seminal debut work, ‘The Great School Wars: New York City, 1805-1973,’ in 1974, providing a definitive historical account of public education controversies, including themes of centralization, decentralization, and the impact of immigration. This followed her earning a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in 1975 and a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1960.

Bush and Bill Clinton. From 1991 to 1993, she served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education under Secretary Lamar Alexander, where she oversaw the Office of Educational Research and Improvement and spearheaded federal initiatives to promote voluntary state and national academic standards. She continued her impact on national policy as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) from 1997 to 2004, supervising the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Concurrently, she held the esteemed Brown Chair in Education Studies at the Brookings Institution from 1995 to 2005, editing Brookings Papers on Education Policy. From 1994 until her retirement in 2020, Ravitch served as a Research Professor of Education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Around 2010, Ravitch became a leading activist for public schools, marking a significant professional turning point. She openly renounced her earlier support for modern education reforms, including high-stakes testing, school choice, and charter schools, instead becoming a prominent advocate for professional teachers and democratic public schools.

Ravitch continues to be recognized for her contributions as a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.