If you’re referring to teachers who were fired last June using the 90 plan which allows struggling teachers time to improve, that system has been in place for years. It has nothing to do with any of Rhee’s reforms. I just want to set the record straight. Ineffective teachers can be let go without using Rhee’s divisive tactics. School reform is not just about firing people, but under Rhee, it often seems that way.

Also please keep in mind that the claims she makes of improving test scores have all happened with that same cadre of so called “bad teachers” that she inherited when she came to DC in 2007. She only started firing people in June of ’09, when all the current scores were already in.

Andrew — Best of all, go to the thatsrightnate blog and read his recent four part series satirizing Rhee. It is filled with facts and good commentary. http://thatsrightnate.com/2009/10/21/michelle-rhe... In part IV he drops the satire, because, as he says, “some things are quite difficult to joke about–the future of our children is one of them.”

I hope you, as a serious writer and thinker, will check the facts and think carefully before continuing to support Michelle Rhee based on impressions from a speech she gave. To paraphrase thatsrightnate, some things are too serious to form an opinion about without knowing the facts – the future of our children is one of them.”

Please check the above links and also read the comments to see for yourself. These are verifiable facts, with links to official sources of public data. It has taken this kind of scrutiny to get accurate information because Rhee doesn’t hesitate to misrepresent publicly available information and then to repeat the misrepresentation. See also the GAO report, which among other things, notes that Rhee has not released a parent-teacher satisfaction survey. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09619.pdf page 33.

[continued]

Robert Vinson Brannum, Chairman
Education Committee
DC Federation of Civic Associations, Inc.
1st Vice-President, Ward 5 Council on Education
rbrannum@robertbrannum.com

Which is all the more ironic, because when she was a teacher herself, for three long years, she wasn't so successful herself, despite all the lies on her resume.

Rhee is opposed getting any input from anybody else, because she thinks she knows everything. She is excellent at demonizing people.

Her only approach is to fire people without due process and then to make disparaging comments about the people afterwards, but then to refrain from giving any details that could be challenged, under the guise of personnel privacy rules. And, generally, those affected have no recourse.

The data she crows about are generally close to worthless, but when the data shows that her mass firings of principals hasn't worked, she lies about the data.

How long until she goes down in flames and the parents and teachers are left to re-build a system that she wrecked?

Frankly, as a systems person, that is my biggest concern.

1 Encourages social innovation — the DC effort is focused on individual teachers, firing allegedly bad ones and hiring good ones, not in fostering the development of strong systems and culture

2 Fosters a supportive policy environment — if you challenge Rhee on 1 or other points, you lose your job. The people in the community who focus on policy and systems (i.e., the work of Henig and Stone, Alvarez, others) are ignored.
3 Rewards initiatives for exceptional performance. If principals are direct about their need for resources they get fired.
4 Spreads successful approaches. Other than the focus on hiring teachers, there are no successful approaches (i.e., what nearby Arlington County or Montgomery County school systems do to support excellence and achievement on the part of Title 1 schools/students)
5 Produces knowledge to understand performance. Without a plan (did you see the reports from the GAO on the DCPS efforts) how can you understand performance or produce knowledge?
6 Catalyzes public-private partnerships across sectors. Except for work with typical pro-charter type groups (Broad Foundation, etc.), Chancellor Rhee has not reached out to other sectors.

That being said, I like your 6 criteria. I just need better examples.

cf. a blog entry I've written on the same topic, http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2009/10/...