Michelle Rhee on Anderson Cooper 360
January 8, 2010 by Michael Price
Filed under Intensify Education, Parental Engagement, The People's Blog
42 Comments
Filed under Intensify Education, Parental Engagement, The People's Blog
42 Comments
Last night, Chancellor Michelle Rhee appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. Watch the video here and share your thoughts.
This is another example of Michelle Rhee bashing DC teachers all across the country rather than taking responsibility for the fact that she is an inept manager and only made student achievement in DC public school worse in her tenure. (Check out NAEP scores for DC black students and how the achievement gap is worse than when she came). Rhee has to go around on the talk circuit and convince others because no one in the DC area is listening anymore to her rhetoric. Rhee like the mayor only have one weapon which is to fire thousands of DC employees. Their goal is to destroy all unions in this city and privatize city government.
The DC city council has promised long ago an independent evaluation of our public schools as well as an internal audit. To date we are still awaiting this to happen. Many of us believe that the results will demonstrate Rhee’s exaggerated claims of student achievement and fiscal MISMANaGEMENT.
My question is what is taking so long City Council member Brown.
Signed, sick and tired of being sick and tired of Rhee and Fenty
Chancellor Michelle Rhee spoke about everyone being accountable but herself. I think her performance is more important than anyone she spoke of during the interview with Mr. Cooper.
What I noticed was that Rhee’s answer to practically every question was “Human Capital” (I think that’s Rhee’s management-speak for “teachers.”)
Cooper asks what’s next in education? And Rhee answers, “I think one of the things were going to see over the next few years is a real focus on teacher quality and human capital in schools.”
Cooper asks about changes in education and Rhee answers, “I actually don’t think it’s going to be something in the realm of computers or smart boards…. I think the real innovation is going to happen around accountability for the adults in the system…with the focus on human capital…. How we change the ways teachers are thought about in society, how they’re compensated; how they’re evaluated…. That’s what’s really going to drive the innovation going forward.”
Cooper asks about creative solutions to education and Rhee answers, “It’s absolutely the human capital. It’s the quality of educators in the classroom and leading our schools…. “
Why even go to do the trouble of bringing in students to comment, when they were just used as shills for Rhee to put down teachers. When the first student commented on older teachers who “have connections,” Rhee saw an opening to blast unions: “It’s a significant problem that in this country right now we have a dynamic where you can be incredibly ineffective. You can, you know, actually take kids backwards in terms of their academic achievement, every year, year in and year out and still have a job.” [I think she should be required to present the data that proves she has kept teachers on the payroll who have taken kids backwards over a period of years, and then explain why she didn’t put those teachers on the 90 day plan and have them fired.]
When the second student suggested more technology for the future, Rhee disagreed, suggesting more focus on human capital, of course.
This interview was a farce. Anderson Cooper simply provided a forum for Rhee to publicize her only plan for reforming DC schools — firing teachers.
When Chancellor Rhee arrived in town she did not create an education plan. After much criticism, she created an educational plan 18 months into her term. Her educational plan included a plan to get rid of a significant share of her teaching workforce through buyouts, layoffs, terminations, etc.
Chancellor Rhee has since fired a significant share of teachers, administrators and school staff without due process and without regard to their performance ratings. Rhee believes in firing probationary teachers without regard to performance, seasoned administrators with schools that have made documented gains and the list is endless. Rhee recently terminated 388 teachers and school staff via a reduction in force in November ‘09 after school started which has created over sized classes & teachers teaching outside of their certification. Rhee hired over 900 teachers this year then argued that she had a budget deficit which caused her to terminate 266 teachers and over 100 school system employees, many of whom were highly qualified and certified. No credible school system in America terminates highly qualified and certified teachers & staff while continuing to hire mainly new teachers who lack experience and are at not highly qualified. This ensures that mostly students of color are more likely to be taught by an inexperienced and un-certified teacher thereby contributing to the increasing disparity in the achievement gap between black and white students. This is also a violation of NCLB. Students of color are more likely to be taught by a teacher who is provisionally certified, inexperienced and lacking in HQ credentials.
Certainly the piece by Anderson Cooper was a farce. I agree with e-favorite that Rhee was simply given a platform to spew her lies and continue to bash public school teachers on CNN as well as give a plug to Mayor Fenty for his next election bid. This is about capitalism and privatization of public education through hefty million dollar contracts to groups like TFA and the New Teacher Project. This creates a revolving door workforce of inexperienced teachers who stay an average of 3 years and leave before gaining the experience, professional development, mentoring, coursework and professional certification to become better teachers.
I do hope that the DC CIty Council in their oversight role of public education will take a stand and continue to investigate instances of fraud within DC public schools. Rhee is still hiring teachers despite the fact that she claims that there is a budget deficit and one that is continuing to grow under her leadership and will require more layoffs in 2010-2011. Rhee more than likely will fire more teachers within this next year.
I support an immediate forensic audit by the DC City Council, like the one conducted in the Barbara Bullock union scandal. I also support getting on with the independent evaluation so that the results can be provided to the public before Mayor Fenty’s next election. What can you do to help facilitate this Mr. Brown and how can we be of help to support your efforts ? It is finally time for some real accountability of Michelle Rhee.
Candi Peterson
(AKA The Washington Teacher Education blogger)
thewashingtonteacher.blogspot.com/
website: saveourcounselorsdotorg
While there is some political hay to be made trashing the chancellor (especially by those who do not support the mayor), the vast majority of residents understand and respect that she came into a system that had been wrecked by adults for political gain. We know that WTU is part of the problem. Unions can be part of the solution and are a great resource for the country, but this union needs to dismantle and a new union formed with legit leadership.
Sorry, Ronnie, I do not “understand and respect that [Rhee] came into a system that had been wrecked by adults for political gain.”
I was very excited when she first came in, because I hoped she’d improve the school system. I could not longer support her when it became obvious that her goal was simply to bust the union for the political gain of adults and didn’t care at all about effects on kids (or she couldn’t have RIFd teachers mid-year, upsetting students learning environment)
I believe the Michelle Rhee feature on Anderson Cooper 360 was both appalling, inaccurate, biased and an example of why I will NEVER support anything Anderson Cooper speaks on, produces, writes, edits, tweets, googles or affirms in any way. It is bad enough that the City Council has allowed her to manufacture RIFs, conduct massive layoffs and to badmouth the citizens and children of the District as well as its workforce. However, when a person like Anderson Cooper gives an educational dilletante so much exposure and allows a platform for her to lie about data with no one to represent the opposite side of the argument, something is very wrong. The only scores that have improved are white students’ scores and that translates to a problem for everyone because all children must succeed!!
Councilman Brown, you were merely ‘present’ the day Peter Nickles became the Attorney General of our nation’s capital. We need you to be present and ACTIVE to rid the city of leaders who operate in the reptilian manner Rhee espouses. Ronnie above posts that the current union needs to be dismantled and reformed into a different organization. While I agree that all organizations have their problems, it is a serious issue that Rhee is unable to respect or follow ANY RULES of any organization and that she is allowed by the supreme legislative body to operate with impunity while breaking the Anti-Deficiency Law and other similar laws.
Rhee cannot be trusted to be responsible for anyone’s children with the destructive decisions she has made while responsible for students in Sacramento. Ms. Rhee was made aware of sexual allegations against her fiance when she was in the position of being a mandatory reporter in Sacramento. She did not. There is no statute of limitations with respect to her failure to act appropriately within the confines of the law. Rhee also interfered in a federal investigation by contacting former Inspector General Gerald Walpin, the man whom President Obama chose to fire or have fired when allegations about her fiance came out. How is this at all acceptable?
People say this has nothing to do with her current position. What a naive perception. It has everything to do with her current position. A woman who is amoral enough to protect a man who prefers little girls to women his own age is now engaged to a woman with a child’s body. If she can interfere with a federal investigation without reproach, what wouldn’t she do? It is clear she has no respect for the City Council or even for the President of the United States if she dares to interfere with an Inspector General. After all, the President did sponsor legislation to protect Inspectors General.
Well, he is another of Rhee’s victims. Is she more powerful than the President? Her level of power reminds me of a poignant scene of the motion picture Malcolm X where a police officer commented “That’s too much power for one man to have.” Rhee is clearly more powerful than the mayor and we all know exactly what he thinks of the City Council, of which he was once a part.
The proper way to effect change is to follow the rules in place while making changes to the process by which things are done. It is no better for a broken system to be replaced by a tyrant, his out-of-control undereducated and underexperienced chancellor and his police chief who allegedly bends the law for the privileged.
Up until today I had been a fan of Anderson Cooper but now I must add him to the list of people that don’t really care about education and our kids, these people only care about allowing Michelle Rhee to push her agenda. This is the agends that efavorite and The Washington Teacher touched on.
I am so tired of watching Michelle Rhee bash teachers. I must agree with efavorite, her whole interview was to talk about teachers and how bad they are and how Unions will make the world crumble. I am a teacher that Michelle Rhee wrongfully terminated in October and I am tired. I am tired of defendeing myself in the Post, on Blogs, and on the street. It continues to shock me how people believe her lies. Despite being told that I was being fired because of a budget shortfall she continues to hire. Despite her admiting under oath, in front of the City Council, that she found out about the budget in July and stoped hiring shortly there after, there is proof on the DC Governemnt website that proves otherwise. I am really tired of people on power looking the other way. She is winning her war against teachers and the students are loosing.
Mr. Brown what will you do!!!
I am so dimayed as to why the Council has not acted on its duty to investigate the budget of DC Public Schools. The Council can act on giving away tax deals to businesses but it can’t get to the bottom of another agency possibly stealing money from DC. All that hoopla, grilling Rhee, etc., and the Council hasn’t exerted its oversight over the DCPS budget. This Mayor and his appointees are deeming the Council impotent. It seems that way. The Council must act for the benefit of the children; something that has not been done for years and is not being done now. Wake Up Wake Up! Wake Up!
We need to volunteer and take a hands-on approach to imroving the education of our children. Just 4 hours a week and phone calls can do a great deal to ensure that children and teens understand that someone takes a sincere interest in the educational process. I am not certain that our children are being served adequately and some parents need additional help with ensuring that every child receives the best education possible.
I remember when teachers were really respected. Michelle Rhee has the notion that accountability and human capital are the key to implementing sustained and meaningful change in the DC School system. I was a DC teacher and many days were wrought with disappointment and fatique. What sustained me were those students who realized that I was actually vested in making them fall in love with learning. I often said that my welfare was intertwined with their own. This meant that I had a vested interested interest in making certain that they did well in order that we could do well.
As I watched the Council hearings that dealth with the firing and retention of teachers, something struck me as odd: education was placed on the back burner, while combativeness and class-warfare prevailed. I often wonder how many of us can walk around with a sense of confidence, pride, and hope with the knowledge that many of our young people are being neglected educationally.
I learned a great deal about human capital in the classroom. Somebody needs to stop the lip service and make certain that our children can read and write. This is integral to their survival and ability to capitalize on simply being the best human being that they can possibly be.
Dr. Dorothy-Height had it right all along. Children, I apologize for neglecting you and your ability to be the best you can be. Now, I wish the school leaders can do the same and sincerely vest the resources needed to maximize the potential of our children.
Perhaps Dee’s termination by Michelle Rhee impacted her sense of reasoning but it seems to me she is off topic on the subject of what Rhee said on the Anderson Cooper show. I guess after Dee wrote about her unfair termination from Ludlow Taylor by Rhee on her blog and was 1 of 3 teachers reinstated she wants to duck her head in the sand now . This has nothing to do with neglecting students. Long before Dee arrived on the scene teachers have been committed to their students often without the resources, support, mentoring and professional development. It has become a thankless job and is so demoralizing.
Rhee has a vested interest in creating hysteria amongst the general public who don’t know squat about education. It is so unfortunate that she continues to distort the truth. The only thing she cares about is the bottom line and making more and more money.The students are the pawns in this game. That’s the real travesty here. Efavorite is right on about this piece. Wake up and smell the coffee.
I just watched the interview, and I thought the conversation between Cooper and Rhee hit on some solid points.
I also agree at the end of the day that every every student needs a quality education. The ability to hire and also fire teachers based on their performance is important. Parents also need to be more involved in their child’s education. They are accountable, too.
There does need to be a change to how teachers are thought of in human society. We don’t have enough respect for the positions they hold in our societal structure.
I also agree that school should be year-round. Yes, it’s more expensive, but we need it.
The US ranks #25 out of 30 industrial countries in math. Sad.
The US ranks #24 out of 30 industrial countries in science. Again, sad.
Accountability needs to come full circle on education in America.
As a DC outsider, but person deeply interested in the education of our youth, I am amazed at the lack of support and amount of negative comments posted regarding Rhee. Perhaps I have a viewpoint not shared by those too close to the argument precisely because I am not emotionally involved in the local scene. To me it seems very clear that Ms Rhee places great value on the teaching profession and understands that until and unless our teachers are properly respected, valued and compensated, we can’t demand or expect the level of professionalism we so desperately need from them. As in every other important profession, we need to realize that there has to be a process for removing those individuals who are not suitable to the great task. Every other profession has the means to remove staff who for a variety of reasons don’t meet expectations; but this is frequently not so in education. For too long this powerful and important calling to motivate and teach our youth has been protected so that incompetent and ineffective individuals have been allowed to remain withitn the ranks of the outstanding and dedicated. Surely we can find a way to weed out the wheat from the chaff and elevate this profession to the level we so desperately need so that our children will be given the greatest gift we can give them as a society–a chance for a great education and a future of possibilities opened up to them.
I have followed the chancellor’s statements since her arrival in DC through the media and watching and listening to her statements before the city council. I am a physician but have attempted for four or five years to educate 7th and 8th graders in their religion. As a result, I feel strongly that teaching young people is one of the most challenging jobs an individual can pursue. Not only is teaching one of the most important jobs in our society but one of the most difficult.
There were times when I would be frustrated or angry with a student while attempting to make them aware of how important spirituality is to their happiness in dealing with the challenges of this life. I would then try to take a deep breath and ask myself why am I doing this? I’m not doing this for me but for them. That is what I think being a good teacher is about. The students, not the teachers.
In observing the chancellor’s statements and live performances in front of the city council, I have become convinced that she sees her major responsibility and focus to be the students. There are good and not so good physicians. I’m sure it is the same in the teaching profession. There is no doubt in my mind that the good teachers in the District have nothing to fear from the chancellor.
The way that this is unfolding in DC is the most fascinating dynamic in this city from any perspective: education, economics and the long-term impact on the city, psychology and people’s responses to major change (fear?), politics (Is the end game going to be political self-preservation or changing the system despite opposition from a vocal few?).
Every one of these areas has become more electric since Rhee came to DC in response to a loud rally not for improvements here and there but for MASSIVE change for the sake of the city. Whether you love her or hate her, Rhee is forcing all of us to examine just what it is we expect from adults and believe about children.
I was a teacher for 10 years and understand how frightening her ideas about teacher accountability are for a lot of teachers. It forces you to really shine the light on yourself and your teaching in a way that is connected to job security when few can afford to lose their jobs right now. Even as adults, just like children do, we want to be doing a good job and to be seen as doing a good job–it is human nature–and she is bringing all these vulnerabilities of ours to the surface by wanting to measure something we’ve never really had to have measured before.
As I see it, this is what leadership IS…This is a brave woman with a passion for service to children that is almost unmatched, transcending politics to reach a vision the city desperately needs to reach. She is forcing us to face the facts and challenging us to change them. An earlier post said she was distorting the facts, but the facts about student achievement are practically criminal when you see what some schools with the same kids are able to do when they can have longer school days and their principals can easily hire and fire people.
It’s so hard to see beyond the short term challenges, and so easy to attack Rhee in response. But with the articles this week about surrounding counties’ cuts, DC teachers are in a better position right now under Rhee (her RIF seems minimal compared to the cuts teachers in surrounding districts are going to see). When other districts are freezing teacher raises and are cutting all over the place, she is working on paying DC teachers MORE (asking in return that they earn the money through their performance is not a radical concept). Forget even just surrounding districts, other professions aren’t even getting anything like this from their leaders right now. This is testament to how much Rhee respects teachers and their work.
There are reasons the system has been so bad for so long, and based on reading the blogs and comments from those who are most opposed to her in general, I am tempted to think that the more that this small handful is angry, the better a job she must be doing!
Can we imagine the society she sees that she mentioned in the interview, where teachers join the collection of phrases used to define a powerful and respected position in this country? (instead of “doctors, lawyers and investment bankers” that indicate having “made it” in America). Teaching is as powerful (or more) a position in terms of impacting society, economies and the world, and if Rhee had it her way, this would be the profession that was most competitive. It can be where the best and brightest flock to in the largest numbers. Can’t we get beyond the short term discomfort to imagine that kind of vision, and support her long enough to get us there?
Most of these comments are ridiculous. The leader of a school system says that if you take a kid backwards, you shouldn’t be in the classroom. What’s so appalling about that? We should be appalled by the low achievement of most of our schools and students instead. I believe Rhee supports teachers, but I would never want her to support a teacher over the simple justice of ensuring that every child gets a quality education. She has the guts to say it and to stand up to those who want to push back. That’s real leadership. What would be really great is if the Council still had the guts to stand behind her, rather than hide behind the small, vocal minority who continue to fight against her.
@ Paul Murphy I respect your opinion but I guess you are not aware of how many “Good” and qualified teachers Michelle Rhee has fired since coming to DC. Trust me good teahers do have cause to worry about Michelle Rhee and their jobs. I also agree that there are bad teachers just like their are bad lawyers, and bad doctors, but there seems to be a misconception that you can not fire bad teachers. YOU CAN!!!! There is a system of due process which I think everyone should be entitled to, a bad lawyer has to go before the bar and have a review and charges have to be proven why should it be different for a teacher?
Kathleen, you say, ” Perhaps I have a viewpoint not shared by those too close to the argument precisely because I am not emotionally involved in the local scene. ”
I’d say it’s because you’re only reading puff articles and watching set-up interviews by the national media. Please consider that people who live here in DC have more actual knowledge than you do and your impression may be totally and inaccurately colored by the hype about Michelle Rhee and thus completely lacking in substance.
I supported her at first as well. Like many others in DC, I was thrilled that she was so intelligent and seemed so determined. She certainly still has those qualities, but I now also know that she is a ruthless liar who cares only about making herself look good – at the expense of students, teachers, whomever. She’s had a great run so far.
For good background info on Rhee, go to http://thatsrightnate.com/2009/10/21/michelle-rhee-and-the-washington-education-miracle-part-i/#comment-6233 and read his four-part SATIRICAL series on Rhee. He gets serious at the end, because, as he says, “some things are quite difficult to joke about–the future of our children is one of them.”
This was a very one sided view on what is wrong with education in the USA with distorted truth. It was terrible and more teacher bashing and blaming. I hope we all can work together for a solution to our problems in education in the USA for our children sake.
I’m a Black, male, educator in DC and I support Rhee 100%. Recently, downsized/riffed teachers marched and protested against Rhee. But not once have I witnessed teachers march or protest against DC’s sky high drop out rate, DC’s 35% unemployment rate among Black males 26yrs and under, DC’s joblessness among young African-American youth, DC’s youth incarceration rates, etc… The teacher’s protests’ were not student focused; they marched because Rhee yanked at their wallet. Rhee MUST continue to agitate agitate and agitate. DC ed. system has a pile of dead wood that should’ve been rolled out years ago. Human Capitol is exactly the key to changing the DC corrupt, NEPOTIST (let me say that again – Nepotism) educational system. Again, I got Rhee’s back!
As a native of Washington DC, a product of DC public schools, and someone who decided to become a public school educator for my own career, I am so surprised and appalled by the REACTION ON THIS BLOG to Michelle Rhee’s reform efforts in DC. Her spot on Anderson Cooper and what she is attempting to accomplish in DC is remarkable and honorable. She is actually looking at the effectiveness of teachers and keeping the academic progress of students as her primary concern. More failing school districts across this country should be as brave and courageous, and teachers should finally be respected as professionals. In terms of teacher bashing, she did none of that on the Anderson Cooper show, in fact she did the opposite. Unfortunately holding teachers accountable means firing people who are ineffective. I am thankful that such an innovative and ground breaking reform effort is occurring in the city that I call home.
Skip says, “The leader of a school system says that if you take a kid backwards, you shouldn’t be in the classroom. What’s so appalling about that?”
I agree, Skip, it’s not appalling at all. It’s just completely dishonest. Rhee has not provided any evidence of a teacher taking a kid backwards. I’ve never heard her make that particular ridiculous accusation before and I listen very carefully. It would be hard to prove, at any rate. But she doesn’t even bother to try. She just states it and people have such a low opinion of DC teachers (thanks in large part to Michelle Rhee) that some people will believe it. THAT’S what’s appalling.
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Katie — I have difficulty perceiving you as a teacher with 10 years of experience. You sound more like a PR writer or someone with limited knowledge of teaching and limited respect for teachers.
Instead of accusing people of distorting the facts, I suggest you check out some of the facts yourself. Read the blog I suggested above and read some Washington Post articles by Bill Turque (an investigative reporter). Don’t kid yourself or try to kid others about the ‘small handful” of angry, unappreciative people in DC. Consider that you’ve been taken in by hype that Rhee represents what’s best for children – but that she’s actually out for her own self interest at the expense of children. Also, please, a year or two from now (hopefully sooner) when the disturbing facts about Rhee’s reign are uncovered and broadcast nationally, please remember that you read about it here and refused to believe it. It might help you the next time you’re tempted to buy hype and dismiss or rationalize information that interferes with it.
Rhee is right. There’s no question that the teacher has by far the biggest influence on what goes on in the classroom and whether and how much kids learn. How can anyone look at any statistics about the performance of DCPS kids before she got here and say that the teachers overall were doing a good job? I challenge all of the naysayers to point to any statistic about student achievement, any number, anything at all, to show that the level of teacher performance is where it should be. How can it be that our student graduation rates and test scores are as low as they are but all or even most of our teachers are doing a good job? It can’t. The only answer I ever hear to that is that low student performance is a result of things out of the teacher’s control. I just don’t believe that, and neither does Rhee. In every poor urban school system, including DCPS, there are examples of teachers who make a huge difference in student performance in the face of the very same social, economic, community, and family circumstances that every other teacher confronts. Rhee has high expectations for our kids and equally high expectations for their teachers. You go, girl.
For those of you uninformed about what really is happening in DC shcools, standardized test scores have been rising in DC even while under former superintendent Dr. Clifford Janney. A fact Chancellor Michelle Rhee doesn’t want to give DC teachers credit for, most unfortunately. If you support Rhee then you should recognize that teachers helped to raise these test scores and should be acknowledged. In Rhee’s million photo opportunities fails to give credit to the people doing the work.
While taking credit for the increased graduation rates in DC recently – it is amazing that Rhee still has failed to give the credit where it is due to parents, teachers and school communities that helped to make these gains possible.
I agree that Anderson Cooper’s show only presented a 1 sided perspective. If we aren’t afraid of the truth then we should demand that Anderson present both point and counterpoint as he does on other issues. Afterall reporters are supposed to present both sides of the story and let Joe public decide for himself/herself. This is the only show where I see a school chancellor (not qualified to be a superintendent) get a monologue. You gotta do better Anderson Cooper !
This probably accounts for why some people are uninformed on this blog about what’s happening in DC because the mainstream media only presents one side of the story and not a balanced perspective. I wrote to the producers of Anderson Cooper and suggested that they give equal time to those of us here in DC like parents, teachers, school staff, DC community members and real DCPS students.
Those of you to claim to be black DC teachers — I don’t think you’re for real. There’s no way of knowing for sure, but the fact that you speak in generalities about teaching is an good indicator.
No one disputes that teachers have a big effect on what happens in the classroom, but teachers can’t make kids come to class – there is a huge attendance problem in DCPS. And teachers can’t prevent misbehaved kids from disrupting other’s learning and they can’t perform miracles with kids who are already years behind because of social promotion required by the administration.
Rhee’s teach-for-america teachers and DC teaching fellows aren’t doing any better with the kids than vets. How do you account for that? those are the best and the brightest that she’s always talking about. Teachers who move from low-performing schools to high performing schools suddenly are more successful with the students. Did the teachers suddenly get better? No, they’re now dealing with kids with better attendance, more involved parents and fewer discipline problems.
If you’re truly a teacher in DCPS or anywhere – you’d know that.
I’m a supporter of Councilmember Brown and of Chancellor Rhee, and most of my friends and neighbors are as well. Mainly we support the progress that our students are making under her leadership and as the result of great work obviously being done by many, many good DCPS teachers. The evidence speaks for itself, and will continue to. Our children–let’s talk about THEM, shall we?–are on their way to getting the school system they deserve, and a start in life that they deserve. If this means that incompetence in the teaching force needs to be dealt with like it is in every other profession . . . it’s about time. It surprises me that so many people can’t or won’t acknowledge that even the right change takes time and can be difficult in spots. Councilmember Brown, thanks for your continued and important support for DC’s children and these reform efforts.
Having a different opinion from Rhee doesn’t make me a naysayer. Isn’t that what a democracy is all about ? Anderson Cooper better hope that naysayers like us continue to watch his show or he’ll soon be off the air. Not to mention all the naysayers that pay Rhee’s salary as she is a public servant.
Why does she get a check to bash the teachers and other staff members of the DCPS? She hasn’t done her job! She’s was run out of the classroom! So, who makes her an expert on quality instrucation? LOL!
The problem with DC Voter’s comments are that even good teachers are being let go. I guess that’s okay too and while we are at it let’s set ourselves back years and get rid of due process. Teachers can be fired and have been fired. Under Rhee teachers with great ratings are getting fired too. Council member Brown is well aware of this in the recent council hearings in which there were many teachers showed copies of their performance ratings.
I am saddened about many good teachers who were let go during this layoff in November. Many of them were committed and responsible for helping to raise student achievement. DC students showed courage in standing up for great teachers. Now who is going to stand up for the numerous classes that are being taught by teachers out of certification, substitutes and over-sized classes? If we care about students we wouldn’t let this be happening. Come across the bridge into South East and see what’s really going on in our schools. It’s the photo opportunity the media doesn’t want to cover.
Who’s the biggest crook Rhee or Fenty?????????? Rhee can I get a bonus too????????????????? Does DC still have laws, and checks and balances? LOL! Where are the FEDS?
Sue: Rhee gets a check to bash teachers because she has connections. Since Rhee will be 40 this year, she has gotta go like the girl stated in Cooper’s video. She has overstayed her time and like Rhee, we fire anybody 40 and over. are you feeling me ?
I have seen at my child’s school as well as the DCPS schools of my niece, nephew and neighbors that the MOST IMPORTANT factor in student achievement is the teacher in the classroom. DCPS has some great teachers, some lousy teachers and a whole lot more who are somewhere in the middle. That is the reality. How to tell the difference is the challenge particularly when some teachers are good for some types of learners but not for others. Dramatic reforms that evaluate quantitative as well as qualitative information to determine who is best in the classroom and get bad teachers out of the classroom as quickly as possible are difficult, unpopular, not perfect, but ultimately the best way to improve our schools. This is the path Michelle Rhee has chosen and I think it is the right way to go.
The second most important factor is parental involvement in the school. Every child needs at least one adult who says “my job is to make sure this child excels in school” and then spends the time to make sure that child excels. Every school in DC has educated children to excellence but more often those not, only those children who have adults who push, pull, and cajole the kids and the schools into meeting higher expectations.
After these factors come buildings, books, etc.
I think people spend too much time focusing on Rhee’s “bashing of teachers” without necessarily evaluating teachers themselves. As someone looking forward to being a teacher and who has gone through every aspect of the school system as a student, it is more than true that there are bad teachers – and that is something that should be ignored. Granted, if you send your child to a well-to-do suburban school or some charter or private school, you will never get to experience this first hand because, most likely, your children really don’t care anyhow because they’re coasting through the system on your dollars, tax, tuition, or otherwise; I know this from experience. Even so, not everyone in college does well enough that I would feel comfortable sending my child to their class, if they were a teacher, but this is as much a lack of motivation and a proper educational foundation as the fact that teachers allow this. The truth is that without a strong, good teacher there to hold students to high expectations and not only push them to get there but help them succeed, students will never learn to have high expectations and to truly find the strength and means to reach said expectations. It all starts with dedicated and passionate teachers in all classrooms, not just in untroubled school systems. If a teacher doesn’t care and just pushes a student along, no one is gaining anything.
Teachers should be holding themselves accountable even if no one else is, and if you as a teacher are not, perhaps you’re missing out on what’s important.
I think Rhee is a hero in this community and has done more for education in the district than anyone else. There is no denying the fact that students in the District are learning more!!! While she has pressured teachers to work harder, this is what it takes to have students achieve, hard work! The hard working teachers of the District applaud her efforts and have been dismayed for years by teachers who put themselves ahead of children and refuse to work hard. One former seasoned DC official recently told me that he only wished she had come to DC sooner. Keep up the great work!!
WHY are people bashing Rhee. She wants teachers to make what Doctors and Lawyers Do!!!!!!! What teacher has a problem with that!!!
The first thing I heard Rhee said in the interview is that she thinks effective teachers deserve to be paid a lot more, to be paid what other professionals are paid, such as doctors and lawyers. Then she says that ineffective teachers do not belong in the classroom.
Since Rhee has arrived in the District, NAEP scores (a national test, so we know how the District compares with other urban districts and states) have risen and no longer is DCPS last in the nation in terms of student achievement. There is still a long way to go, but at least the district is improving and no longer standing still. Graduation rates have risen as well, affording more DCPS students the opportunity for college, career and economic opportunity. Furthermore, a survey of parents, students and staff shows significant support for the direction the district is taking. 74 percent of faculty and staff agree that their school is on the right track. 74 percent of staff report feeling strongly supported within their school. Students feel that teachers and principals set high expectations for learning. I think we should commend those teachers and principals who are doing an outstanding job every day to help students continue on this path of academic improvement, and I agree that those who are doing a fantastic job deserve to be paid what lawyers and doctors earn.
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