Michelle Rhee Accused Of Exaggerating Students' Improvement During Her Time Teaching

The Washington Post:

Former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, known for her crusade to use standardized test scores to help evaluate teachers, is facing renewed scrutiny over her depiction of progress that her students made years ago when she was a schoolteacher.

Read the whole story: The Washington Post

Comments

[mrskorn]

11:10 PM on 02/16/2011

Yes.

[WhatWereTheyThinking]

04:10 PM on 02/15/2011

A padded resume? Imagine that...

[raechel]

02:31 PM on 02/15/2011

Detailed discussion of this story, with background: http://edobserver.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-rumors-spread-michelle-rhees.html

[suds mcduff]

12:52 AM on 02/16/2011

From a teacher hating blog? Please.....

[raechel]

10:48 AM on 02/16/2011

Do you teach your students to listen to ideas only from people who agree with them?

I don't care who says it -- just appreciate the deep background. Find it somewhere else.

[globality]

12:34 PM on 02/15/2011

Brandenburg contended that the data show Rhee "lied repeatedly" in an effort to make gains in her class look more impressive than they were.

Rhee, who resigned last year as chancellor, denied fabricating anything about her record and said Brandenburg's conclusion was unfounded. But she acknowledged this week that she could have described her accomplishments differently in 2007, when then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) selected her to be chancellor.

[El Chingaso]

05:43 AM on 02/15/2011

Hey, after a few drinks in her (martinis, red or white wines, even micro-brews), I bet Michelle is fun to party with. I mean, isn't this where public education has gone? All image and "zero" substance? She's still a hot chick...

[traceydouglas]

10:26 AM on 02/16/2011

It is more important to look good than be good.

[Isthisalreadyinuse]

12:48 AM on 02/15/2011

In 2004, a study done by recruiting firm Challenger Grey & Christmas found 52 percent of over 250,000 resumes reviewed in the study had discrepancies. The most common place to inflate or exaggerate is past experience, which is easier to do and get away with than, say, education or compensation. It's unfortunate, but it happens all the time, and happened more often when Ms. Rhee may have inflated things, since background checks and the like were not as common as they are today. Why bring this back up now, after she has moved on? It doesn't seem much different than the bith certificate issue that won't die. In neither case is it necessarily relevant to their performance on the job years or decades later.

[treemonkey]

02:45 PM on 02/14/2011

Time for her to go Rhee Rhee Rhee, all the way home.

[Andy Clark]

12:07 PM on 02/17/2011

I cannot believe I haven't thought of that yet.

[bryanzth]

12:23 PM on 02/14/2011

No regret, nothing but arrogance. I perceive her to be a golddigger. I wouldn't trust her as a trainer in a GOP/TPer call center.

BZ.

[Isthisalreadyinuse]

12:11 AM on 02/15/2011

She said she wishes she could revise her resume. I guess that's regret.

[SeptimusDSX]

09:12 AM on 02/14/2011

I just took a look at a blog link of a Mr.Brandenburg (sp?). The data does not necessarily tell the whole story. We do not know what the experimental conditions were, how the data was collected, what assumptions were made, free parameters if any etc etc ?? The crude Excel graph doing the rounds does not even have error bars! He has very few data points and does not give enough information about the context or anything else.

I don't really know much about Ms.Rhee apart from vaguely recalling a Time Magazine article, but I can tell you that the so called data analysis to measure her is incomplete. She may have very well been a fraud, but that Excel graph sure as hell does not cement the conclusion!

PS:
I am 100% against the ridiculous and undue emphasis on standardized tests.

[bryanzth]

12:24 PM on 02/14/2011

Ted Sizer (Horace's Compromise) showed us the folly of solely using standardized tests.

Good for you!

BZ.

[SeptimusDSX]

08:57 AM on 02/14/2011

Are her policies still being followed or have they been scrapped?

[BroadwayJoe]

01:51 AM on 02/14/2011

This is BS. Just the DC teachers' unions still trying to go after Rhee. I respect the POV of the ' unions but, dammit, the kids come first. Let's put some accountability into the system and kick failing teachers out of the system. Rhee tried to turn a failing system into a success and she was winning....but the forces of the status quo piled up against her. It's DC's loss in the end. More failing schools.

[boyoboy]

02:13 AM on 02/14/2011

How does lying about your success as an educator help improve failing schools?

[poeticjustice4all]

11:02 AM on 02/14/2011

How does focusing on Michelle Rhee's 3 years of teaching in the early 1990's help improve failing schools?

[bryanzth]

12:25 PM on 02/14/2011

Nice talking points. Are they from the blue or the green 3-ring binder in the GOP/TPer call center?

BZ.

[breakingpoint]

01:03 AM on 02/14/2011

what some people won't do for money.

the whole system and country is based on endless lies

[fromthatshow]

12:32 AM on 02/14/2011

Michelle Rhee is a slimebag

[poeticjustice4all]

01:15 AM on 02/14/2011

Keep it classy HuffPo.

[wyldthings]

01:27 AM on 02/14/2011

No what she is is a person that has a different point of view than yours. Now I;m not one to say this but she has degree's from how many prestigious University's and you call her a slime ball. Get Real J***

[aosborneh2o]

06:31 AM on 02/14/2011

Yes, I would say that lying is a point of view. It is also LYING!!! Degrees from prestigious Universities??? Really??? Should we start a list of the liars and cheats from supposedly "prestigious" Universities? Is that really your standard?

Sigh... We're in sad times when it's ok to classify lying as a point of view.

[1donewrong]

11:51 PM on 02/13/2011

I love her defense I don't have any data but my principle said i did

[InfinteShibumi]

12:47 AM on 02/14/2011

LOL!!!

[who38]

02:22 PM on 02/14/2011

Was that before or after the roll on the desk?

[biznesschic]

10:49 PM on 02/13/2011

I am so glad that most of my fellow posters reject the "for profiteers" of our public school system. Blaming teachers and failing schools is a scapegoat, to those who don't want to deal with the real issues, and are in it for a quick buck. I admittedly taught elementary school for a short time, however, common sense approaches seems to work best:

Standardize testing should only reveal weakness, and should not be a barometer of success or failure.

Lets put donated French Horns and Violins back in schools, not just number 2 pencils.

Lets praise the child who has an interest in painting and poetry, and not make him feel guilty that he is a poor math student, and will bring down a teachers standardize test score.

Lets keep the school open for 2 extra hours in the evening, and partner with the local junior college students to tutor struggling students in their field of study, for credit off of tuition cost.

Let the first emphasis be parents, not bad teachers. Encourage parents not only to be involved in their own children's education, but make sure that the less fortunate child has a ride to participate in his school play.

This is community base learning that has worked for years. So sad that the powers that be want to make it so complicated.

[MJinCanada]

02:10 AM on 02/14/2011

All sensible suggestions/solutions.