Happy Blog Birthday, Diane!

On the one year anniversary of her eponymous Wordpress site, let us raise a glass to Diane Ravitch - blogger.

There's no point in my retelling yet again how much Diane means to the real reform movement for her tireless advocacy, her books, her speeches, her media appearances, and everything else she has done to turn back the billionaire-powered tide of reforminess. We all know what she's done; we all know what she means to us.

But I think it's worth giving Diane special praise for her blog. It's become the first thing I look at in the morning and the last thing I read before bed. I know that if anything essential has happened in the education policy world, Diane will cover it.

There are, of course, other disseminators of education news who are outstanding. Susan Ohanian is the godmother of us all, the first of us to understand the power of the internet in fighting back against reforminess; she remains essential. Valerie Strauss is also a critical resource and one of the few reasons left to have any faith in our corporate media. NEPC's Best of the Blogs is another great gateway; anything there is worth reading (even me!).

But I think Diane has somehow found the sweet spot: she's got a keen eye for finding the blog post or newspaper article or reader comment that isn't just important, but necessary. Her synopses always make me want to click through, and often make me want to come back and comment. (I always find it funny when she links to a post of mine and there are far more comments at her blog than at Jersey Jazzman.)

So thank you, Diane, for blogging. At the risk of sounding selfish: please don't stop.

"If the election were held tomorrow..."