When I became chancellor of the District of Columbia's public school system in 2007, the central district office had no filing system and stacks of personnel papers were strewn in random piles and of no use to anyone. An out-of-the-way warehouse contained badly needed textbooks and supplies that never got distributed to children. In past years, the schools were in such disarray that the district couldn't open the schools on time for the beginning of the year.
Simply put, the system was broken and in need of serious repair. Today, things are working better, as judged by test scores, graduation rates and school enrollment figures.
One of the first things I did was overhaul the school district's central office. It had stopped working for principals and teachers and, in fact, stood in the way of the progress they were trying to make with kids. I got a lot of criticism for being insensitive about laying people off. But, while not easy, putting in place a highly functioning central office was the right thing to do to support children. The changes freed up money that was needed in classrooms.
Now about that warehouse. When I first saw this place, full of forgotten textbooks, furniture and supplies, I got so upset. I had been in so many schools where teachers used their own pocket money to buy classroom supplies. The fact that these resources were stacked up and collecting dust was such a waste.
There's a lot of talk right now about whether D.C. students achieved real gains on district and federal tests during the three-and-a-half years I was chancellor. I know they did. Virtually every subgroup of students performed better on the district tests last year than in 2007. Black and low-income students at the secondary level have experienced double-digit gains in reading and math since 2007. Such strides are essential to narrowing achievement gaps that exist between poor minorities and their white, wealthier peers.
USA Today recently reported on testing irregularities at some district schools. We called for an independent investigation that found no cheating occurred. Because of the importance of these tests, current chancellor Kaya Henderson recently made the wise choice of reviewing the matter further. I look forward to seeing the results of the new inquiry. We have to ensure our tests accurately reflect what our students have learned.
D.C. students also made strides on the National Assessment of Educational Progress when I was chancellor. There have never been allegations of cheating on this federal exam, often referred to as the gold standard in testing. In 2009, the District of Columbia was the only major urban school district to show significant reading and math gains at both the fourth- and eighth-grade levels.
From 2007 to 2009, every measured subgroup of students made progress on the eighth-grade NAEP reading test. Similarly, every measured subgroup made gains on the fourth-grade math test. In some instances, gains came after a period without them. Consider DC Public School's overall eighth-grade reading scores, which rose from 2007 to 2009 but were flat from 2005 to 2007.
Rising test scores are a critical measure of school progress, but they aren't the only metrics we can use. High school graduation rates have climbed to 72 percent in 2009, not as high as we would like, but a gain from 68 percent in 2007.
Harvard researcher Paul Peterson also noted this week in the publication Education Next that student absenteeism declined from 2007 to 2009, as did teacher absences. Peterson reported that the days during which 98 percent or more of the teachers were at school rose from about 67 percent to 85 percent. Teacher attendance is critical to student learning. High-poverty schools are often plagued by poor teacher attendance, and research has shown that has a negative effect on student learning, particularly in math.
I know some of my decisions were unpopular and generated what some might call bad press. I should have done a better job communicating the rationale behind some of these decisions, but making real change requires decisive action. Let's examine my decision to close 23 schools where enrollment numbers were low, as was academic performance levels. In the end, the kids got to go to better schools that were still in their neighborhoods. The schools that stayed open retained high-quality teachers, were renovated and got additional resources.
Let's talk some more about resources. Some of the criticism I've heard about my tenure in D.C. is that I axed art programs and only focused on reading and math, the subjects tested under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Let's be clear. As the mother of two school-age girls, and a former teacher, I believe art, music and physical education are important components of the school day. The truth is that because of the hard decisions we made with school closures we were able to ensure that every school had a gym, art and music teacher, a librarian, a nurse and a counselor or social worker-- something that wasn't available to all D.C. students before 2007.
Another change that is having a great effect on D.C. schools is the new collective bargaining agreement we negotiated with the Washington Teachers Union. The contract was a radical departure from what previously existed. It dramatically boosted teacher pay, treating our educators like the professionals they are. For teachers who opt in to a system in which their pay is linked to the quality of their work, not just time spent on the job, compensation can reach around $140,000. It's no less than what a great teacher deserves.
Linked to the contract is a brand-new evaluation system that requires teachers to be evaluated on the job several times a year by peers, known as master educators, and principals. Teachers get important feedback that helps them improve at the essential work they do. Teachers who don't improve can now be removed from the classroom -- something that was incredibly difficult to do before. Firing a teacher is not something a principal should do lightly, but the risks associated with leaving an ineffective teacher in a classroom are serious.
There is no school-based factor that is as important as the quality of a teacher when it comes to student learning. That's why we worked hard to recruit and retain excellent teachers who were committed to working in a district such as ours. A lot of attention was paid to our decision to remove ineffective teachers from schools, but it's also important to note that we sought out and hired hundreds of top-notch educators who wanted to help transform D.C. schools.
Parents are perhaps the best judges of whether our schools have improved. What I overwhelmingly heard, as I visited with families around the district, was that they liked the reforms. Enrollment records suggest they were speaking candidly. After nearly four decades of declining enrollment, D.C. public schools saw student numbers increase in the last year of my tenure. Parents are still speaking with their feet -- only now they are walking their children to, not away from, D.C. public schools.
Leaving DCPS last fall was difficult, but I know district schools are in great hands with Kaya Henderson. I am excited about taking the experience I gained as chancellor and trying to help education leaders and policymakers around the country.
As CEO and founder of StudentsFirst, a new nonprofit that aims to put kids' interests ahead of others in these critical school reform debates, I am working to overturn policies that stand in the way of positive change. One such is example is the practice of laying off teachers based on seniority rather than by how effective they are at helping kids progress. Nationally, right now, an estimated 160,000 teachers are at risk of layoffs due to the financial crisis. That's terrible, but what's worse is how those layoffs will take place unless we fight for change. Our kids deserve no less, and I will continue to work on their behalf.
Follow Michelle Rhee on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@m_rhee
Cheating in Washington, D.C. schools? - Delaware Ed
Mayor's Fiancée Facing D.C. Education Scandal « CBS Sacramento
Ga. gives D.C. pointers in probe of school cheating - USATODAY.com
You say you are for "Students First" but all your efforts and misleading achievements put corporate education first at the expense of children. And your miracle in DC was fabricated and your tenure of firing did not lead to better scores than your predecessor, even if the testing regiment is a reliable marker for acheivement, which it's not.
Erasure Gate:
http://www.rheefirst.com/?page_id=560
Peace,
Tex Shelters
According to her own business model logic, shouldn't the best district leaders be in charge of educational policy? Instead we have a mediocre-at-best Rhee, Duncan who came from Chicago, which was in the bottom three districts on the NAEPs when he was promoted to U.S. Sect. of Ed., and non-educator CEOs dictating educational policy as it fits their needs. Of course, even the NAEPs do not measure critical and creative thinking subjects like the humanities, arts, civics, and history or the effects of poverty.
Does Michele Rhee think she is actually convincing anyone on HP? As indicated by the comments after her posts, the HP readers who read them tend to utilize more research and critical thinking skills than those who actually buy into her self-promoting ideas.
I would like to hear alternatives (Giroux, McLaren, Ladson-Billings).
It is unlikely we will hear much from the works of Paulo Freire, Jonathan Kozol, Howard Zinn, and other real educators who are/were more interested in teaching critical thinking than training cogs. The corporate reformers have much more use for obedient workers and consumers than a society full of people who might actually consider the ramifications of their actions and decisions. Hence, the reliance on standardized tests and the resulting narrowing of curriculum.
LOL.
It should be called RheeFirst.
Luke 11;67
1) Teachers Unions say;
“teachers and their unions are using the collective bargaining process in ways that help kids, boost the teaching profession and promote the public good.”
or
2) *Calling for Parent Boycott (teachers can't help)
“In my several years in teacher preparation, going in and out of dozens of elementary schools, not once have I seen a union rep or heard any discussion of union matters.”
(I was shocked! Parents most effective tool for bringing about change, parent-teacher collaboration, DOESN'T exist!)
Then I asked him, “do you teach pre-service teachers about unions, collective-bargaining, union constitutions, by-law, original union principles, grievance procedures De-certifying...Anything?
“No, of all the things I have to cover, I don't have the time to discuss unions. They're adults, they can find out for themselves.”
Which is it, 1or2?
#1 Teachers and Union-Leadership had better start working with Parents, Students and President Obama to outlaw Bullying and Corporal Punishment!
#2 Parents and Students will ask President Obama to strip teachers unions of every bargaining right except Wage & benefits.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/alye-pollacks-bullying-video_n_843649.html
http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/marc-ecko-corporal-punishment_n_833623.html
*Shaun Johnson, TowsonUniversity & Timothy Slekar, PennState
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-d-slekar/if-not-now-when-if-not-yo_b_846996.html#comments
Saying that the union doesn't do something doesn't mean that teachers aren't doing it, including teachers in the union.
Teachers are absolutely involved in efforts to curb bullying, and many other issues. The union, however, as a professional organization, doesn't address that sort of issue.
Unions would only become involved if teachers were somehow prevented from participating in solving bullying or other student concerns.
Good teachers welcome assessment. It's only the lazy, incompetent teachers that are complaining.
Now, I have heard many teachers complaining about the potential use of metrics that have been repeatedly proven to be inaccurate (even by the creators of the equations), or, using various systems that will be rife with ageism, racism (or, are you going to claim that there is racism when teachers deal with students, but, not when supervisors make judgments about teachers?) and sexism.
And, teachers are already assessed. In my district, there is an annual teacher assessment based on a number of factors, including 3 classroom observations for tenured teachers and 6 annual observations for un-tenured teachers.
Good thinkers are able to understand the difference between being against assessment and being against unfair, profit driven, useless, or politically motivated assessments. It's only the lazy incompetent thinkers who are complaining about teachers not wanting assessment.
PS. If someone isn't a lazy, incompetent thinker, they could go check the PISA reports to see that the low achievement by students from lower socioeconomic class is a trend pretty much all developed countries. If someone is too lazy read up and learn about something before commenting, they should probably go write comments about shoes.
http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2011/04/huffington-post-in-love-with-rightwing.html
Our schools are mandated to teach ALL children -- not just the ones who come from two-parent, White, middle-class homes. That should be written on the wall in every teacher's lounge in the nation.
If teachers find they have to make excuses for their failure and find themselves compelled to complain about "bad parents" -- then they should find a new line of work.
Go sell shoes.
Of course -- shoe stores have standards, too. So don't expect the store owner to accept your excuse that the customers all came from broken homes and that's why you didn't make your sales quota.
I'll say it again. Go learn what you're talking about. Then come back and you'll be equipped to contribute to the conversation.
In fact, your personal bias and personal opinions about children and their families becomes a barrier to growth.
If you refuse to become a culturally competent, reflective educator -- then at least keep your opinions to yourself and just teach the lesson. Otherwise . . . go get a job at Wal-Mart.
by creating those standardized tests.
This is the reason behind the push for a nationalized ('common")
curriculum.
You can't have big corporate profits for standardized tests
without a standardized curriculum, can you?
Think about it.
Then, take your kids out of school when the corporate tests
are being held.
Google DCPS facts statistics.
from 2007 to 2009, daily attendance in DCPS decreased from 91% to 88%
Rhee's claim linked to a study, used data from the NAEP tests. They are based on grade 8 students, only, self reporting if they missed 10 or more days in the month previous to the NAEP test. Yup. Not year long attendance. Not real data from the school district itself.
Also, during those years, truancy rates increased by 4%
The teacher absence rates are also from only grade 8 teachers (as far as I could tell), and, based on the NAEP report numbers, although I couldn't find them. The report she quotes specifically and clearly points out these numbers are only from the grade 8 NAEP test.
(it's worth going to her link, it's a fluff piece.)
Also, while graduation rates were climbing, DCPS SAT scores decreased from an average of 1271 in 2007 to 1196 in 2009.
Rheealism indeed....