For the past couple of decades there has been a movement toward an approach to education that relies heavily on standardized tests, charter schools, and various other elements that have one thing in common: They deny the value of teachers.

An article in today's NY Times shoves a big wooden stake into this concept. It profiles Diane Ravitch, a major architect of the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" policy, and the person whose posture on education underpins the Bloomberg/Klein approach to education. Dr. Ravitch has switched positions, coming around to the realization that all she has stood for is wrong.

Welcome to the real world, Dr. Ravitch. Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein had better take notice.

As the Times article says, Ravitch has learned, among other things, that:

• "[T]he No Child law was not raising student achievement."
• "Charter schools ... were proving to be no better on average than regular schools, but in many cities were bleeding resources from the public system."
• “'Accountability, as written into federal law, was not raising standards but dumbing down the schools,' she writes."

Combine this article with another NY Times article that talks about how public schools are squeezed for space by being forced to share some of that space with charter schools.

It is now clear, and should be clear even to ardent Bloomberg supporters, that the Bloomberg/Klein team is hellbent on destroying the public school system in New York City. It is time for Klein to leave, it is time for Bloomberg to switch positions -- in short, it is time to rescue New York City's schools from the ravages of the past eight years.