*Oprah Winfrey made a point during her Monday broadcast to say that DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee received a standing ovation upon taking the stage during a commercial break -- a rare warm welcome that Rhee acknowledged doesn't happen everywhere she goes.
And that's putting it mildly.
The applause was in response to her appearance in the documentary "Waiting for Superman," which Oprah's studio audience had just seen in preparation for the show's topic about the nation's troubled public school systems.
Rhee has unwittingly become the national face of sweeping education reform after making bold-yet-controversial moves to overhaul DC public schools, which had ranked the lowest in the nation. The chancellor, hired by outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty, closed dozens of failing schools and fired more than 1,000 educators that she felt were ineffective – including the principal of her own daughters' school.
Needless to say, her actions polarized DC and created a groundswell of animosity toward Rhee that undoubtedly worked against Fenty in the recent election.
Rhee, whom Oprah heralds as a "warrior woman for our time," has always maintained that her actions were done in the best interest of the children.
"The reality is that we have some ineffective teachers, some bad teachers, who are in classrooms every day who are doing a disservice to our children," she told Winfrey. "The data shows if [children] have three highly effective teachers in a row versus three ineffective teachers in a row, it can literally change their life trajectory."
Watch Michelle explain to Oprah why she won't back down.
"My point is that if I'm not willing to put my own children in those people's classrooms, then I am never going put another mother in the place where she has to make that decision," she said to applause.
The film "Waiting for Superman" points out that union-backed teachers are tenured after just two years in the classroom and are nearly impossible to fire – even if they are proven to be horrible at their job.
"Why can't you just fire bad teachers?" Oprah asks.
"It's actually incredibly difficult to fire an ineffective teacher. You have to basically meet a criminal standard," Michelle says. In one case, Michelle says a teacher in her district would disappear from the classroom, skip work day after day and fall asleep in class, but when the district tried to terminate her, she only earned a 10-day suspension.
"Finally, last year we were able to terminate this person, but it was after [she] had been in the classroom for 10 years," Rhee says.
In "Waiting For Superman," Rhee attempts to break apart the notion of tenure with a new proposal that would allow DC teachers to choose to give up their tenure in exchange for double their salary—up to $140,000. At the time, the union refused to put it to a vote.
Monday's "Oprah" also included the film's director Davis Guggenheim, a DC native, Microsoft founder and school reform advocate Bill Gates and singer John Legend, who recorded the film's theme song. Winfrey closed the show by surprising six charter school networks with gifts of $1 million each – the remaining funds from her now-closed "Angel Network" charity. Click here to watch the $6 million giveaway segment.
"Waiting for Superman" opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday (Sept. 24) and nationwide in October. Watch the trailer at left.
Comments
No, Oprah hasn't changed my mind one bit about Michelle Rhee and I am sickened by how Ms. Rhee is applauded for her meaningless catch-phrases. I don't doubt that she may love her own daughters, but she has spoken publicly about some of the shocking things she did herself during her very short tenure as a teacher — including covering her students' mouths with masking tape as a way to keep them quiet, which then bled once the tape was removed. I'm sorry, to paraphrase Ms. Rhee's own statement on Oprah, if you walked into Olivia's classroom and the principal said, "Here's Olivia's teacher; she covers her students' mouths with masking tape to keep them quiet because, as a teacher, she has absolutely no classroom management skills", would you demand for another teacher? Yes, you probably would.
Rhee's solution, basically, is to get rid of unionized teachers — let's be honest — and replace them with inexperienced young teachers who have no actual training in the field of education. In fact, she's replacing them with carbon copies of herself, the woman who took students on a "special trip" after school without any of their emergency contact information, making her have to wander around the neighborhood with one of her young students who didn't know where she lived. These are exactly the kinds of things that she has admitted to doing, and, as a parent, I can say that it doesn't actually freak me out completely, because people make mistakes. What I want to know is, would she fire a teacher who had made those same mistakes, without examining the situation carefully and seeing if the teacher could improve over the course of a few months with adequate support?
I will finish my rant by saying that all school districts should have a competent professional educator at the helm, someone who understands teachers and also recognizes that the failures in our school system is tied to broader failures across our entire social support system. My child has been in the DC public school system for 12 years -- since age 3 -- and she is a top student at one of the top public high schools in the country. We are white, we live in a middle-class neighborhood, we cannot afford private school, and her prior schools have been pretty good, although not always perfect. There have been both good and bad teachers, but the one constant in our daughter's life has been parents who are consistently supportive, have a decent income and health insurance, and have enough flexibility to be available when we are needed.
Beautifully put and I agree with you totally. I have no vested interest in DCPS but have been following Rhee's rampage. I teach in California and am appalled by these privatizers!
We need more warriors like Rhee fighting for the nation's children...politics and special interests are yet again going to put a full stop to her progress. I am sure many good and talented teachers in her school districts will walk out as well after she leaves now that the new democratic candidate for mayor got the backing of the teachers union in order to win the primary...it is all about the politicians and unions, yet again...where are the children in that equation? One of the common denomonators in the failure or the public schools, year after year after year,are the teachers, unions, administrators and politicians. Can you believe that there are no performance appraisals for the teachers..and the battles to fire a teacher require years of effort??? Since it is obvious that the unions are more interested in saving their own hides....thank goodness for education alternatives like charter schools...I cannot believe the DC teachers union did not bring to a vote the offer to double teachers salaries if they give up tenure (they get tenure just after two years of work!!! outrageous!) Wake up moms...you are a powerful bunch...get the system working for your kids again by holding school administrators, unions and teachers responsible for their poor performance and treatment of your kids....40% drop out rates are appalling!
Every one should watch the documentary and hip hip hooray for Oprah for inviting Michelle on to her program...she deserves millions of standing ovations for fighting for the kids!
Rhee told Oprah's audience that Baltimore’s teachers were ineffective, but she failed to mention that when she was a 3rd grade teacher in Baltimore she used corporal punishment to discipline her students.
At a recent teachers’ orientation in DC, Chancellor Rhee told her new Teach for America hires how she used "making tape" to silence 35 students and she described how their mouths were bleeding and the children were screaming when the tape was yanked off.
Here's the link to the full story and the audio from the Washington Post of Rhee explaining the incident:
http://dcwtp.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/the-%E2%80%9Ccelebrated%E2%80%9D-c...
Oprah’s knighted Warrior Woman is a child abuser!
Your comment is brilliant in its specificity. Thank you for sharing and putting this alarming film, as well as Ms. Rhee's ideas, in perspective.
The fact that you are white and middle class renders your argument somewhat useless. Public eucation has been raidcally failing in closing the achievement gap for students who fit niether of those categories. Therefore I wholly support radical restructuing to deal with the problem so that ALL students achieve.
Let's... Get real, everybody!
==$$$==
Michelle Rhee is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of:
Walmart, Eli Broad, Bill Gates,
Goldman Sachs et. al.,
Hedge Fund edu-profiteers
(& their mindless 'think' tanks,
planted pundits & sycophants);
and blatantly
she's the frontwoman/spokesmodel
for
KAPLAN learning services, Inc.
(testing, test-prep & online divisions)
which is a major business arm
(tentacle) of the
"Washington Post" company.
=============
Do you even know what you are talking about? And how would her association with these companies (if any) undermine her effectiveness as a leader and an executive?
Let's... Get real, everybody!
==$$$==
Michelle Rhee is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of:
Walmart, Eli Broad, Bill Gates,
Goldman Sachs et. al.,
Hedge Fund edu-profiteers --
(and their mindless 'think' tanks,
planted pundits and sycophants);
and blatantly
she's the frontwoman/spokesmodel
for
KAPLAN learning services, Inc.
(testing, test-prep and online divisions)
which is a major business arm
(tentacle) of the
"Washington Post" company.
=============
"2010 DCPS
Test Scores DECLINE"
see news article, DCist website: =>
http://dcist.com/2010/07/2010_dcps_test_scores_decline.php ========================
Look at the data, rather than the
24-7 mega-media hype manipulated,
funded & produced by the Hedge Fund boyz,
Kaplan Testing corporation,
Online learning corporations,
the edu-profiteers/financiers clique
& their incompetent spokesmodel rabid Rhee
(with her ludicrous lack of proven teaching or administrative experience, her lack of academic certification to be a superintendent, her lack of reasonable supervisory procedures, her lack of managerial skills, her lack of teambuilding to implement goals, her lack of community development to facilitate progress, her lack of professional tact, her lack of essential communication insight, and her abysmal lack of common sense.
------------------------
No, Oprah did not change my mind. Michelle Rhee and Adrian Fenty are alike: Their way or the highway. In a political world, they are neither politic nor diplomatic. They are dictators. Charm school might do wonders for them both. And it was not Vincent Gray and Michelle Rhee who defeated Adrian Fenty: Adrian Fenty defeated Adrian Fenty.
To Mom 58
You sound like member or teacher for DC public schools ... Please stop your hate for this women and spreading lies about her ... How can someone stoop this low?
DC public school system is broken and some people don't want change to help kids to have the best education which means they must have the best teachers; but some people only cares about whats in their wallets and protecting status quo.
I'm not sure to whom you are responding, but, if it was to me, let me say that I am not a teacher, never have been, and am only involved in the DC public schools as a parent. I have had a child there since she was 3 years old, and not always at the "best" schools in the city, but at ones that sometimes failed to meet AYP and lost teachers. I have seen really bad teachers and really good teachers. I have been there through more than 5 different superintendents or "chancellors". I think people should do their homework, that's all. The Washington Post reported Ms. Rhee & the masking tape incident, and you can also hear her tell the story herself in an audio clip: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/08/michelle_rhee_first-y...
This is not made up -- it is real. But it's not about whether or not she was a bad teacher, but about whether she should be in charge of a large urban school district — someone who was never even a school principal. She does not hold any degrees in education; was, by her own admission, an unsuccessful teacher (quitting after 3 years); and is quick to say that older teachers do not deserve additional training while eager to replace them with completely inexperienced teachers who have never studied education or classroom management.
Please get the facts and don't just swallow everything Oprah tells you as the truth.
Michelle Rhee saying that DC kids are not learning anything because of some of the teachers answer this question for me where are school text books DC kids doesn't text books you know why they have books is because they to spend money rebuilding a new football and track field and playground. But some of the school building are so old they cut hole in window to put ac in.First Michelle Rhee said she fire those teacher was abuse and molested DC kids then she said it was because DC didn't the money to pay those teacher.I can't back a lier.
You can't spell well either.
While many may not like her tactics, at least she has the courage to stand up and make a difference. There is not doubting that our school system is broken. We are 25 in the world...how pathetic. There will always be the haters and those who think they know better but yet only Michelle is taking a hard line and making efforts to make a better world for our children. All the power to her!!!
All the power to her was the problem. And yes there will always be haters. Sounds like you are one of those who think they know better then those who actually live here and who's families have been here for generations. If I remember my history correctly President Nixion was a hard liner who took a hard line in his efforts to make a better world for (whom)???? All the power to him and his criminals (law abidding citizens) is that the American way you are talking about? And trust me he to had the courage to stand up and make a difference in deed he did.
DCPSparent:
"re: Michelle Rhee's
"mom friendly" comment,
prepared specifically for the Oprah show, about moms not tolerating
mediocre teachers being
given time to grow and develop professionally. ---
Well... The unqualified, needing-to-grow-professionally (newbie 'Teach for America') "TFA" principal that Rhee PUSHED on our school, despite protests from a panel of engaged, informed,
truly progressive, professional educators and parents with advanced degrees in education. . . . (this TFA principal)
hired and protected even more inexperienced, unqualified teachers who will take YEARS to
develop into true professionals.
But the TFA principal
and those teachers all know
how to say "yes" to their boss.
Too bad they don't know
the basics of how children learn,
or the nuances of curriculum and instruction.
It is hard, hard work indeed to have to reprogram
my kids every day after school, to get them to embrace and understand learning again.
Rhee's influential, BAD decisions and practices,
more than ANY OTHER failure of the
DC Public School system, has me on the verge of pulling my kids out of school.
Rhee embarrassed herself mightily at the
DC screening of this film ("Waiting for Wall Street Super-scammers)" --
with her comment insulting DC voters.
My kids. and the 350 others in their school,
will not be devastated at all when she leaves.
We assume she will
head to the business world
for which she may have more
appropriate skills."
------------------
Investigate!
Rhee-form, edu-profiteers
& sleazy HYPOCRISY
REASEARCH THE FACTS
ABOUT MICHELLE RHEE !
What was political concubine
helicopter-in Michelle Rhee’s
‘Damage Control’
for (boyfriend) Kevin Johnson?
note:
Michelle Rhee was on the
board of directors
of Kevin’s
privatized High School charter
–- during the time when there were financial illegalities
& misappropriations of ($400,000)
federal grants
and also a pattern of outlandish sexual misconduct
perpetrated by school director Kevin Johnson involving
students (minor teens) & subordinate (Americorps) school staff --
as documented by
U.S. Govt. Inspector General
Gerald Walpin
(must read)
=>
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/11/20/what-was-mi...
=================
Investigate!
Rhee-form, edu-profiteers
and
sleazy HYPOCRISY
REASEARCH THE FACTS
ABOUT MICHELLE RHEE !
What was political concubine
helicopter-in Michelle Rhee’s
‘Damage Control’
for (boyfriend) Kevin Johnson?
--- note:
Michelle Rhee was on the
board of directors
of Kevin’s privatized High School charter –- during the time when
there were financial illegalities
and misappropriations of ($400,000)
federal grants,
also a pattern of outlandish sexual misconduct
perpetrated by school director
Kevin Johnson involving
students (minor teens) and subordinate (Americorps) school staff ---
as documented by
U.S. Govt. Inspector General
Gerald Walpin
(must read)
=>
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/11/20/what-was-mi...
=================
(must read) :
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/11/20/what-was-mi...
As a parent, and as a person who works on the administration side of "education", I believe there is no better word for the state of America's education, then BROKEN. I sit here day after day analyzing teacher and student data, and to say the least I go home everyday praying that my kids will never be placed in some of these aspiring teachers' classrooms. Check the statistics in your own states. Call the education departments in your states and learn for yourselves. Most teachers aren't even qualified enough to teach children how to read, much less, Math of Science. How do expect our kids to be able to compete in a global economy? Out of the 50 to 60 teachers I've had in my lifetime, I can honestly say that I only remember 10 or 11 who've had an impact on my life. Do you want this education for your kids? I don't. I go home and read with them, and do Algebra problems. There are AMAZING teachers, and there are bad teachers. It's just like any other job. Good employees and bad employees, and that's why USDE placed so much emphasis on Teacher Accountability in its Race to the Top Grant Applications. We need to get rid of bad teachers. Ms. Rhee seems like a strong business woman. A school district should be run by a business professional, not an educator.
I have taught in schools in DC, VA, MD, and PA. I left DCPS after one year. The quality of the teachers was HORRIBLE. The teachers were the most poorly spoken, lazy, and incompetent 'educators' I have ever encountered. Terrible grammar, diction, writing and mathematical skills, combined with apathy, impatience, and negativity. I don't see how anyone could work there more than a year without wanting to take all of the children to schools with high performing teachers.
I am African American and I want to cry for the low expectations the DCPS teachers hold for so many black children experiencing the achievement gap. Money and supplies had nothing to do with it. I worked in school systems that spent a great deal less per pupil than DCPS. The teachers are just so lazy there. I currently work in a county bordering DC. The students that move here as transfers never tired of telling stories about how bad the teachers were in the District. Their parents can't believe the difference in the quality of personnel in the schools.
Those working against Rhee should be ashamed of themselves. Their actions are doing NOTHING for the children in DCPS.
She is an overpaid piece of shit
Michelle Rhee is just a lightening rod for change that we all know needs to happen.
I am not a teacher.
There are teachers, plumbers, doctors, lawyers who are horrible. Since we are talking about education, our current focus is bad teachers.
We don't have time to focus on the good teachers because when you want to solve a problem, you need to focus on the PROBLEM.
It's not the lack of money, the system or the parents all of the time. Yes teachers, sometimes its YOU!!
Read it and weep. Yes I said it, sometimes it is you. The wall of silence in the educational system rivals the blue wall of silence at the police dept.
You say nothing about your friend who is incompetent at his/her role. You don't encourage them to find another career.
You allow them to negatively affect children each and every day. Teachers you do not police yourselves so someone else must do it.
Who on earth thinks its ridiculous that your real estate agent is required to take continuing education courses but most teachers aren't?
Oh yeah and I'm old enough to remember when continuing education was first discussed and how much teachers and the NEA complained about possibly being asked to take such courses.
No true professional balks at being asked to stay on top of their game, even at their own expense!!
And as the married parent of two sons in public school, I can tell you when my husband and I both show up and ask questions, these teachers are BOTHERED by our participation. Yep I said it. They are bothered and we then know the words teachers spout about wanting parental involvement is nothing but a LIE!!
Yes, teachers overall don't really want parents involved-- period. That is just lip service teachers pay so when parent participation doesn't happen, they have a scape goat!
Teachers get it together or find another line of work!
Teachers are required to take graduate courses(10 hrs) every 5 yrs to keep their teaching license and 30 hours or more of professional development per year here in Wilson County ,TN. Also, we don't have enought teachers that are a member of the local teacher's union to get tenure. Neighboring districts allow tenure after being hired for their fouth year. Oh, there is just so much you don't know. That Oprah show was full of lies and truly ignorant :experts" Oprah did so much damage that she can never undo.
Michelle Rhee is just a lightening rod for change that we all know needs to happen.
I am not a teacher.
There are teachers, plumbers, doctors, lawyers who are horrible. Since we are talking about education, our current focus is bad teachers.
We don't have time to focus on the good teachers because when you want to solve a problem, you need to focus on the PROBLEM.
It's not the lack of money, the system or the parents all of the time. Yes teachers, sometimes its YOU!!
Read it and weep. Yes I said it, sometimes it is you. The wall of silence in the educational system rivals the blue wall of silence at the police dept.
You say nothing about your friend who is incompetent at his/her role. You don't encourage them to find another career.
You allow them to negatively affect children each and every day. Teachers you do not police yourselves so someone else must do it.
Who on earth thinks its ridiculous that your real estate agent is required to take continuing education courses but most teachers aren't?
Oh yeah and I'm old enough to remember when continuing education was first discussed and how much teachers and the NEA complained about possibly being asked to take such courses.
No true professional balks at being asked to stay on top of their game, even at their own expense!!
And as the married parent of two sons in public school, I can tell you when my husband and I both show up and ask questions, these teachers are BOTHERED by our participation. Yep I said it. They are bothered and we then know the words teachers spout about wanting parental involvement is nothing but a LIE!!
Yes, teachers overall don't really want parents involved-- period. That is just lip service teachers pay so when parent participation doesn't happen, they have a scape goat!
Teachers get it together or find another line of work!
The people who disapprove of Ms. Rhee are teachers who are more concerned about their own welfare system called the Teacher's Union than they are about the education of students. Teachers are protected by their unions and are able to turn out a failing product year after year and know that they will still get a pay check.
My child attends private school because there is no way I'm putting her with the crap teachers in the public schools.
Blaming teachers, firing them, and replacing them with lower paid functionaries is a course of action that is cheap. That is the bottom line: cheap. So is insisting that "student achievement" can be measured with tests and that test scores measure the worth of teachers. Tests are cheaper than providing decent facilities, textbooks, equipment, professional development experiences to teachers. They are cheaper than overhauling the curriculum to make it relevant to students' needs. They are cheaper than lowering class size to a reasonable level. They are cheaper than paying beginning teachers a fair wage and paying for graduate degrees. This is not primarily about busting unions but about posturing. Politicians want to tout all they are doing to improve education without spending a buck. That is what Race to the Top is all about--getting "reform" on the cheap, only it isn't reform in the first place--only a despicable sham.
I am a product of the DC school system a city I am tired because I truly beleive most people are saying these things because it was a majority black city. Racism at it's best. I know many people who went through the schools here including the ex mayor Fenty. We care not that she is of a different ethinic group and as we teach our children math reading etc, does life skills not also come to play on how one should speak to a person or hear a person out or just give them respect. Our racial situaiton is on shacky grounds Because it always seems to me because we disagree with the whites they feel we do not know what is best for us. We have a white police chief. No problem. She has done a great job she hears the community out. She still locks people up that is her job to control the crime within this city. I do not hear anyone complaining about her, and she has a tough job. And Ms. Oprah was so un informed she thought she was a Zulu princes did not realize what area slaves came from. Ms Rhee is no reformer of nothing she is a trend of younger arrogant professionals that has come with generfication and think she knows it all. I liked how after the major fuss she wanted all to see her black boyfriend like we cared. She timed it so well so she thought. Then the gay principal that she put in the school who ended up getting killed by going on the chat line looking for young love around the same age of people that were in his school. We have many professionals here most schools are failing not just in DC but of course because we were a major black city, a seat of government and with Mayor Barry being a human being who made a human mistake like many others be they black or white he did nothin to hurt the people he hurt his self. These are the same people who thought the God father(movie) was great criminals part of the American way. Dog parks are nice Fenty did that for the city (wow) new condo's up low income down. Where did the people go where were they placed? And the older teachers who are jobless now will end up in those so called un employment lines welfare things of that nature that I see a lot of people call handouts. I guess they should just lay down and die. Fenty cried a little late was he that blind that he did not see how this place has become a place for the haves and the have nots. Fenty used the people and he asked us nothing that is arrogant. I voted him in and I voted him out is that not the American way. And you critized me for this. They were bullies both of them. But it seems to be the new trend in management. The meaner you are you think you are a better manager. I do beleive in the American way but the bully part has cost American greatly.
This must be the most polluted issue of the century. The general public doesn't know what's going on because they were educated in an American school system that never intended that they be really educated. So members of the general public are appalled at anyone who would reject education reform. The rich who are behind education reform know this. Notice there is no talk about sharing rich people's schools and their access to special privileges with the poor. Why not just put poor kids in their schools? The rich who have the means to shape this argument and who are always dividing us along the lines of race, class and sex while pressuring us to get on the upward mobility machine easily manipulate Americans to serve their interest. Why don't we just keep it simple and follow the money trail and ask ourselves where is the voice of the other side of this argument. Why won't media outlets offer objective reporting with this issue? Who has what to hide? And why? I hope America wakes up before its to late....
High School Teacher
Rhee told Oprah's audience that Baltimore’s teachers were ineffective, but she failed to mention that when she was a 3rd grade teacher in Baltimore she used corporal punishment to discipline her students.
At a recent teachers’ orientation in DC, Chancellor Rhee told her new Teach for America hires how she used "making tape" to silence 35 students and she described how their mouths were bleeding and the children were screaming when the tape was yanked off.
Here's the link to the full story and the audio from the Washington Post of Rhee explaining the incident:
http://dcwtp.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/the-%E2%80%9Ccelebrated%E2%80%9D-c...
Oprah’s knighted Warrior Woman is a child abuser!
something obviously needs to be done with our ailing school districts ,here in nyc much money and resources are wasted with so called rubber rooms what is going on!kids today have a hard time getting jobs and paying for student loans we supposedly have such smart and knowledgeable people in control why are they failing us?
I have been a teacher for fifteen years. I have never belonged to a union. I am African American. Did Michelle Rhee's reforms produce inscreased test scores? That is all this is about. Show me the numbers. If not, then all seh did was fire a bunch of teachers. I am anti-teachers union. Over the yearsI have seen too many colleagues take adavantage while making huge sums of money.However, I do not know if I support replacing incompetent and apathetic teachers with untrained college grads.
Blaming teachers, firing them, and replacing them with lower paid functionaries is a course of action that is cheap. That is the bottom line: cheap. So is insisting that "student achievement" can be measured with tests and that test scores measure the worth of teachers. Tests are cheaper than providing decent facilities, textbooks, equipment, professional development experiences to teachers. They are cheaper than overhauling the curriculum to make it relevant to students' needs. They are cheaper than lowering class size to a reasonable level. They are cheaper than paying beginning teachers a fair wage and paying for graduate degrees. This is not primarily about busting unions but about posturing. Politicians want to tout all they are doing to improve education without spending a buck. That is what Race to the Top was all about--getting "reform" on the cheap, only it isn't reform in the first place--only a despicable sham.
Would you BLAME the POLICE OFFICER working in a HIGH CRIME AREA?
Would you BLAME the DOCTOR working in a hospital with a lot of SICK people?
Would you BLAME the LAWYER working with a lot of CRIMINALS?
Would you BLAME the BORDER PATROL AGENTS for all the ILLEGAL ALIENS that are crossing the border?
Would you BLAME the SOCIAL WORKER with a lot of WELFARE CASES?
NO? Why not?
Because there are other FACTORS beyond their control! STOP BLAMING THE TEACHERS!
DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
ACTUALLY , better policing does affect crime. This is a weak defense seeing those crip schools are doing so well. There needs to be accountability with teachers. Some people just don't have a dream. As for taping a students mouth - a lot of people are probably saying good for her. I got a ruler on my hand in school. I'm only 48. Lol
This question was asked in a predjudice way also. The writer is clearly against Mrs. Rhee.
Private schools give the illusion of doing well, because they TEST kids before REGISTRATION. They only ACCEPT students with HIGH IQ's.
Charter school encourage LOW-PERFORMING STUDENTS to go back to their ORIGINAL SCHOOLS!
Furthemore, there are NO BEHAVIOR-PROBLEM KIDS in these schools, LOUD, RUDE, DISRUPTIVE KIDS are IMMEDIATELY EXPELLED and sent BACK to . . .
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
Public schools ATTEMPT to TEACH EVERYONE!
From the handicapp child to the newly-arrived immigrant that speaks absolutely no English!
God bless the UNDER-PAID, OVER-WORKED, UNDER-APPRECIATED, PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS!
They deal with the kids that nobody wants to deal with.
Lord have mercy on the souls of big, OVER-PAID, ARROGANT, ADMINISTRATORS who spend all their days being WINED AND DINED by the BIG PUBLISHING COMPANIES!
ADMINISTRATORS that have not been in the classroom in YEARS!
Administrators that couldn't handle TEACHING, so they became paper-pushers instead.
ADMINISTRATORS ARE DELUSIONAL, and actually THINK that 2 to 3 YEARS TEACHING makes them EDUCATIONAL EXPERTS!
Should a POLICE OFFICER working in COMPTON or WATTS make LESS MONEY than a POLICE MAN working in Beverly Hills?
I DON'T THINK SO!
He should be making MORE
You all missed everything. Any parent who has a child in any district in this country knows that these things are all true. Michelle didn't try to break the unions, she tried to up the standard. She was brave enough to fire the principals first and she got it!!! No teacher can excell under mediocre leadership. If you are a good teacher and want to make more money, then you should excel at your craft. If not, then get out. I live in one of the richest cities in the world, yet our kids get caught up in the bureacracy of politics in lieu of good education. I doubt that Michelle has any sleepless nights about what she has done, as opposed to what teachers and administrators fail to do!!!
Any parent involved in education and that gets the facts, knows that this is not a fantasy, nor is it a political move, nor is it fiction. This film and her struggle validates ALL parents who struggle for an appropriate free public education for their children.
One thing, nobody even mentioned special education in this film, if they had, that atrocities would have been even greater.....
That a teacher who is accused of sexual or emotional or physical abuse can remain a teacher is disgusting...
fair trial sure, but when you have it on tape, and they are guilty, they should be dismissed without pay.
Just my opinions.
Oprah should have had Seattle's Super. Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson as a guest as well. She recently received a no confidence vote from teachers here. She like Michelle is a product of the Broad Foundation. Her philosophy is hire admin. and teachers who are young and dumb (no experience) a so she can make decisions that are quick and dirty. As in every profession there are the good and bad, but I don't appreciate having my evaluation based on student's test scores which yes, come about by teaching, but research shows that parents are the driving influence in their child's success as a student from grades k through 12. Teachers have to deal with ESL and special needs students (learning and behavior challenged) who are no longer pulled out of our classrooms. In any one grade level we have students with abilities that can span five grade levels. Students are no longer held back! Too, since our evaluation is based on student performance it seems that we spend more time testing than teaching. Give teachers a break, the majority of us work hard to educate our students despite the roadblocks put in front of us by businessmen who have $ hence think they have all the answers and superintendents who quite frankly care more about themselves than our students!
lol all the unionized teachers are the ones posting negative comments about Rhee.
Lets just do as the "teachers" say, lets keep DC schools the shit holes they are and let them keep their jobs.
Obviously, the teacher's union is out in force on this thread. Anyone who sees the film Waiting for Superman will understand that Michelle Rhee is a reformer in the best sense. She has attempted to remove ineffective, protected-for-life-no-matter-what teachers who are wreaking havoc on the futures of our school children. Only the weak links in teaching would be worried about what she's been doing. To continue to support the status quo is equivalent to approving of educational genocide in the public school system.
Bad teachers shouldn’t be paid if they are bad at teaching. Why hire a ligeguard who cant swim? A lot of requirements and thinking goes into deciding who is a good teacher and not, but it’s not impossible. The plan/idea of ending the ten year idea, paying good teachers a lot more for all their extra work to craft their work is a very good idea. It’s very complex and difficult in grouping all teachers employed into categories of good and still needs work teachers. Teaching is a gradual process like learning, and it should be developed and better each year until you are some of the best teachers. If teachers decide to not end their ten year contract (or whatever it is), it’s up to them, but let the really good teachers be rewarded for their determination for teaching and motivating students. The plan that Rhee offered will only scare the ineffective teachers, but still keep the real good teachers as well. Even though she can’t solve the whole crisis at hand, at least she contributes a little bit of bettering our future society, and as other people develop ideas to benefit the students, it will become revolutionizing. Everybody adds a bit, and it’ll become a big change if everybody offers something to positively impact the education system and policies to help all students. It’s not a plan to eradicate all older more experienced teachers, but to offer the possibility of hope to future generations of educators. What we think is really bad, may be a good idea when people look at history about our decisions. We don’t know how the ending of ten year will affect us positively or negatively in the end. But we should make room for new educators to enter the workforce, and present their ideas of teaching to the ever changing students. Not all students are the same as those who were students decades ago. Old and new methods of teaching are also a factor. This is just me rambling. I don’t know the whole picture, but the point is, Rhee has a point. It’s about the students, not job security. Great teacher shouldn’t have to worry about having a job if they are already good teachers. It really sucked when my newer biology teacher’s job was terminated because she was a new teacher. I really liked her method of teaching. This isn’t all I want to say, but it’s just the rambling of a 16 year old. i don't know the specifics of the whole situation at hand. but oh well, whats important about things coming from the mouth of a child right?
Coming from an actual DCPS teacher, specifically a young TFA recruit, it hasn't taken long to realize how ineffective Rhee's system actually is. First off, the guidelines to be an "effective" teacher are incredibly unclear. No one at my school can quite explain what the new TAS (a teacher created assessment which accounts for part of IMPACT) even is and how it relates to my job as a special education teacher. I have made several attempts to get clarification from the DCPS IMPACT office about this, to no avail. Furthermore, it has become clear that it is nearly impossible to achieve a highly effective rating. There are absolutely some great teachers at the high school I teach at, and none have received a highly effective rating. In fact, some of the teachers that did receive highly effective status based on Master Educator observations are now having their statuses taken away from them because their students still did not perform well on the DC CAS (standardized test). Of course, a superintendent, chancellor, etc. should be able to remove a teacher from their job who is skipping class and not teaching. Tenure should be easier to terminate. However, Rhee's administration has not been effective at giving teacher's a concrete example of what success looks like in the classroom, particularly at the high school level. Furthermore, she has created a system of fear within the schools. I work with older teachers that truly believe that Michelle Rhee has a "hit-list" of older teachers she wants fired. Whether this is a logical belief or not, how can you expect dedication to your cause when those who are meant to follow you don't trust you? We can never have a functional public education system in DC unless people are on the same side. In addition, the goals of reform that her administration wants to accomplish just do not align to the realities of working in an inner city public school, particularly a high school. On any given day, at least 30% of kids in each of my classes are absent and another few are skipping class. Because DCPS does not expel kids per say (they get filtered in and out of different DCPS schools, but they won't be removed from DCPS entirely) these kids stay on the roster and while they show up to class 50% of the time, teachers are still expected to get them to know 100% of the work. It's just not realistic. I've been cursed at, called names, pushed, been absolutely completely disrespected by students and then to have people put 100% of blame on teachers for student failure just isn't fair. As many have said, so much of a child's success relies on their parent's commitment to their children's education. ("Waiting for Superman" actually shows this quite well. All of these students have dedicated parents which so many of the students I teach, lack). Yes, I would say most parents care somewhat about their kid's education, but are they willing to put in the work to get their kid to actually come to school everyday, to do their homework and study? So much of a child's motivation to succeed comes from their homes and the culture around them. At least in terms of the school I work at, the culture to succeed is lacking and it is proving nearly impossible to instill when a child has already reached 15, 16, 17 years old. All I'm saying is that it is easy to scapegoat teachers, especially when so many of the people that do have never set foot into an urban school to teach. I went to great suburban public schools my whole life and I can honestly say that the teachers who taught me are no more effective, qualified or passionate than my colleagues. In fact, I'd argue they are less so, as it takes a truly dedicated person to walk into decrepit school buildings, with few resources, minimal parent involvement, and poor student achievement everyday for 30 years trying to make a difference. The only true difference between these suburban schools and these failing urban schools is the the strong belief in the necessity of education that permeates the culture in many high performing suburban school districts. We need a leader that won't just vilify most teachers, but who will work with the communities the students come from and draw upon the amazing resources of nonprofits, churches, community centers, etc. that can rally around the cause of education and change the expectation in the community and culture that surrounds the students from "I can just drop out and do Job Corps" to "I can go to college."
As an aside, the story about Rhee taping her student's mouth shut is true. I was part of the new teacher cohort she told this story to.
Arne Duncan doesn't like Rhee and neither did the parents.
So when all the 'bad teachers" are fired and the students still aren't making adequate progress-then who gets the blame? All the teacher haters-go to the Michelle Rhee school of teaching. Become a teacher. Then you can tell us about what is really going on. Everyone blames unions. Yes, they protect us from people like you who look for people to blame. Unions don't pick curriculum, set policies or evaluate teachers. You want to blame people, take a good look around at all the people meddling in education that are not educators. Yes, there are bad teachers and districts but the overgeneralizing of "bad teachers" being the main problem is ridiculous!
Two things usually determine the success of a student: the level of the mother's education and $$$$$$$$$.
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