Diane Ravitch is an author, a professor of Education at NYU, and an education historian who sits on the board of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. She has been an influential voice in the field of education and history in America, serving as Assistant Secratary of Education. She is also a nonresident senior scholar at the Brookings Institute.

She has written many books, some criticizing leftist attempts to stifle the study and expression of views deemed unworthy by the left (see political correctness, multiculturalism).