Ravitch Quits a Publication That's Boosting Bloomberg

A prominent education journal will suggest in its next issue that Mayor Bloomberg's commitment to improving schools would make him a good candidate for president. But the idea is already running into resistance, with one of the journal's board members, the historian Diane Ravitch, resigning as a protest of what she called an effective presidential endorsement.

The article, which will appear in the spring 2008 issue of Education Next, opens with an illustration depicting a defiant Mr. Bloomberg standing atop Tweed Courthouse, the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the city Department of Education. He grips a long sword in one hand, carries a shield decorated with the New York City seal in the other, and is dressed in full knight's armor.

Headlined "New York City's Education Battles," the article describes Mr. Bloomberg's education plan as a victorious destruction of what had been a "personal patronage mill." It also says that the management changes have been a mixed bag for students, whose math scores the journal says are rising, while reading scores are flat.

It ends on a positive note, arguing that, despite critics' attempts to burst his bubble, "Bloomberg just may have outsmarted everyone."

The mayor's presidential potential is addressed in a sidebar, which concludes, "With all that cash on hand, why not go for the whole ball of wax? If he does, Americans might have a renewed opportunity to ponder the state of American education."

An editor's note by the magazine's editor in chief, the Harvard government professor Paul Peterson, also tackles the presidential question, applauding Mr. Bloomberg for tackling head-on a problem that he says the current presidential candidates have failed to address.

Ms. Ravitch, a professor at New York University who has followed the changes in the New York City schools under Mr. Bloomberg closely and has been a vocal critic, told The New York Sun that she resigned from the board of Education Next after reading the article. "How can a magazine with an editorial board endorse a candidate for president when no one on the editorial board was consulted?" she said.

She said she was also protesting inaccuracies in the story, which she said is "based on ideology, not evidence." Math scores have risen, she said, but only among fourth-graders. A respected national test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, last year concluded that New York City eighth-graders had made no significant progress on math and English since Mr. Bloomberg took control of the schools.

Mr. Peterson said yesterday that he had not received Ms. Ravitch's resignation letter, and he said he would be disappointed if he does receive it.

He said the article is balanced and an example of good journalism. He added that his personal opinion is that he would be happy to see Mr. Bloomberg jump into the presidential race.

"It would put education on the national agenda," Mr. Peterson said. "We would start talking about education policy, and I think that would be good. That would be good for our schools."

In an interview, the author of the main article, Peter Meyer, said he agrees with Ms. Ravitch that the city's education results during the Bloomberg administration have been minute. "It is pretty amazing that, six, seven years into this, we barely see a blip," he said, adding that had Ms. Ravitch been given an instructional role in the city schools there would have been more improvement.

But Mr. Meyer said of the mayor, whom he interviewed for the story, "I think he'd make a great education president."

He said Mr. Bloomberg's potential to elevate education as an issue is just one reason to support him. "He would make a great manager of the bureaucracy, I think as he has proved in New York," Mr. Meyer said. "I think he would be good for education and good for education reform."

The article describes Mr. Bloomberg as a compact man who "carries himself like a linebacker." It says the mayor was "sobered" by last year's NAEP test results. "Even though there was some progress in math scores for eighth-graders, overall the results for them weren't what we would have liked them to be," Mr. Bloomberg is quoted as saying.

Contacted yesterday, two other Education Next board members said they would not support a Bloomberg presidential run.

A professor of political science at Stanford who chaired Mayor Giuliani's education advisory team before Mr. Giuliani dropped out of the race, Terry Moe, said Mr. Bloomberg is a good manager but he should not run for president. "What's the point except to serve as a spoiler?" he said.

The president of the Fordham Foundation, Chester Finn, said he is leaning toward Senator McCain.

"We elect mayors to fix schools and such; we elect presidents to keep the nation safe in a dangerous world," Mr. Finn said. The Fordham Foundation led by Mr. Finn and Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance are sponors of education next, which is sponsored by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.