I can appreciate Michelle Rhee's desire to make waves in the teaching arena. Good teachers deserve better than we give them and the bad ones... err... off with their heads!? -- Umm --
really??
The tactics, the cult of personality, and the metaphorical loaded assault rifle got in the way of sustained teaching reform in DC.
Rhee's positions are not the problem (well, some of them are -- like when she sold-out to the myth of standardized test scores). Unfortunately, Rhee got it wrong even when she had it right. Rhee's problem was that her decisions and actions were not seen as collaborative efforts between like-minded reformers. Instead, it appeared as though she acted alone and moved too quickly. This caused her to appear to be a target rather than a leader. Additionally, with so much attention drawn to her personality (attention she welcomed), her efforts at change became muddled and left America second guessing her actions. We knew Rhee's age, face and educational background before we knew or understood her overall strategy. It was the combination of national attention and the speed with which she responded to ineffective teachers that make her better suited for the media than for true educational reform.
Lasting change takes buy-in and buy-in happens when people feel part of something important. Ms. Rhee would have done well to share the spotlight, highlight the teachers who were excellent prior to her arrival and build a strong base of proponents so when ineffective teachers were exposed and fired it wouldn't be all about Rhee, but instead about a system that needed housecleaning.
Instead of provoking a positive re-thinking about what we expect from all teachers, highlighted by examples of excellence, Rhee's cult of personality appeared as a dictatorial head hunting spree. When everyone is made to fear because leaders act too swiftly, without building support and sharing voice with others, then bad teachers get to hide in the shadows of the destructive figure head. In the long run, the fear left in Rhee's wake does not help students.
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No one has the right to treat others like dirt. Saying that colloboration does not work if teachers do not agree to give up all their rights is absurd. DCPS just fired a bunch more people so they can hire a
contractor for some special ed services. The Baltimore teachers are way to smart to okay a contract that sends them back to the dark ages and puts the noose around their necks. DCPS will soon elect a new union president who will not be running a company union that sells out its members. It took a while but folks are walking up to this reform travesty.
Getting there. - Empty, ungrammatical statement.
An totally inexperienced and incompetent person like Michelle Rhee has no business making any decisions about anything in education. - Unsupported statement filled with personal opinion without supporting facts.
She clearly has extreme problems with hostility, control, and inability to interact in socially and professionally appropriate manner with others. - Unsupported statement filled with personal opinion without supporting facts.
No one has the right to treat others like dirt. - I agree. Essentially an empty statement.
Saying that colloboration does not work if teachers do not agree to give up all their rights is absurd. - All their rights? Hyperbole.
DCPS just fired a bunch more people so they can hire a
contractor for some special ed services. - I'm sure the $175 million DC budget deficit had nothing to do with this. Are you saying the special needs students don't deserve an education?
The Baltimore teachers are way to smart to okay a contract that sends them back to the dark ages and puts the noose around their necks. - Unsupported, ungrammatical statement.
DCPS will soon elect a new union president who will not be running a company union that sells out its members. - I am happy to hear this. It means that school reform will run right over their union.
It took a while but folks are walking up to this reform travesty. - Good luck in
Finally, American parents are realizing that their children will not have the same opportunities they themselves had. One way of insuring a better future for their offspring is through education, hence the increasing interest in education. Combine this with increasingly quantitative measurement of performance in many careers and a growing distrust of government (and its' employees), and we have a recipe for change.
Rhee may not have been collaborative, but it is unclear that collaboration would have yielded the results she desired. She did use a carrot and stick approach - a 21% retroactive pay increase for a new evaluation system. This IMPACT evaluation system was approved by the teacher's union. Now, they want to change it, but keep their 21% pay increase.
Lastly, we've seen the results of collaborative change in Baltimore, with Andres Alonso proposing a new teacher's contract, only to have it voted down by the rank and file. It doesn't work. The interests are just too entrenched to accommodate the changes required.