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DC's Chancellor Rhee -- Taking No Prisoners
July 23, 2008 11:25 AM
Michelle Rhee has a very tough job – repairing the failed D.C. public school system, which has some of the lowest performing schools in the country despite spending more money per student than any other district nationwide. Her methods have been controversial and her confidence, often seen as arrogance, has rubbed many the wrong way.
Watch this story tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m.
Rhee's decision to take the chancellor job was a brave one. Just 38 years old, Rhee is the youngest person to ever head the DC school system. She has never been a school administrator before and her only teaching experience was for three years in a Baltimore elementary school. Rhee, a Korean-American, has the additional challenge of being the first non-black chancellor in DC in 40 years.
In her first year as chancellor, Rhee has started a revolution by closing 23 schools primarily because of under enrollment. She has also made a slew of firings including 100 central office employees, two dozen principals, and 23 assistant principals. She even fired the principal of her two daughters' elementary school.
Her take-no-prisoners approach has met with a lot of resistance from the Teachers Union and parents alike. A local Washington blog even superimposed Rhee's face over a photo of Donald Trump, the mogul now famous for his catchphrase, "You're fired!"
Maria Jones is one of dozens of parents who protested outside of Rhee's office earlier this year. "She has no academic plan," says Jones. "I can't see anything but cuts happening."
Rhee is nonplussed by the shouting and picket signs. "This is not about being liked," she says. The children are her focus. "We are going to totally transform this district and in doing so the learning outcomes and the life chances ... of every kid in this city."
Chancellor Rhee acknowledges change will not come overnight, but this year's standardized test scores are cause for optimism. Preliminary results of the DC Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) released last week show gains in math and reading for both elementary and secondary schools. Washington's Mayor Adrian Fenty gives Rhee much of the credit for those improvements.
While there have been six different chancellors in the last 10 years, Rhee has vowed to see her reforms to the end. Rhee says it may take up to eight years to see a significant difference in student achievement, and she recently told the Washington Post that she plans to stay in her role for that long.
July 23, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)
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I support Rhee - as a lifelong resident of MD, and literally on the DC border, I have seen the downward spiral of the education system in DC - and it stayed in the dumps for MANY years due to corruption and incompetence. At least someone now is taking the job head on and is making progress. DC spends more money than ANY district nationwide and has the lowest performance. DC needs drastic measures, and Rhee is doing a great job. Keep it going Michelle.
Posted by: Xianstudio | Jul 15, 2008 12:21:24 PM
DC does NOT spend more money then any district nationwide, that's just factually inaccurate. That said, we don't do as well as we should with the money we spend. Specifically, our Special education programs are a disgrace, our infrastructure is crumbling, and no one is held accountable. I think that Ms. Rhee can be helpful in these regards. It will be interesting to see if she can bring accountability to a system that has never seen it.
However, the gains in this year's testing should largely go to the former super, who instituted some of the academic changes that Ms. Rhee has wisely built on.
Posted by: Wyrm2 | Jul 17, 2008 9:30:29 AM
DC's Chancellor Rhee -- Taking No Prisoners
I support academic achievement and equal opportunity for students in DC and across the nation. In contrast, when ironfisted Chancellors like Michelle Rhee fires hundreds of employees, principals, assistant principals, and educators without assessing underlying problems in the education system in her district or in this country, then their motives are questionable.
Chancellor Rhee parades in DC like dubious principals across the nation whose objectives and considerations are all about them, and collective associates who pretend to be concerned about the advancement of low performing students. They advocate challenging failed school districts, but their actions and motives are contested. Low performing student’s academic achievement and success are used as scapegoats for conglomerates to cleverly make as much money as they can as quick as they can.
Occasionally, when these students beat the odds and excel, their trajectories and advancements in this country are relentlessly and subtly compromised by corruption and stagnation. Many who acquire multiple degrees, certifications, and qualifications continued to be astutely coerced from the job market through layoff, and laws like the “No Child Left Behind Act” which is often utilized to legally enforce mass firings of minorities as seen in DC and throughout the nation. Then, foreigners from around the world are aggressive recruited to maintain the status quo of the Many.
To repair a failed school system, which has low performing schools, a Chancellor has to have a vision to successfully implement change throughout the school system. Effective change in the school system doesn’t fall out of the sky, nor does it rise from ironfisted dictatorship. It requires authenticity and the ability to assess the big picture.
How can a Chancellor credibly reform a school district without venturing beyond the horizon? It is impossible, and presumptive. There are underlying factors that must be accessed within the arena of a failed educational system. These elements encompass the whole child, which include the home environment, the community, and the school. If these issues are not effectively addressed with abetment, then the school system continues to be a devastating whirlwind sagaciously decimating the essence and survival of the entire race keenly executed by an ironfisted dictatorship.
I pity minorities under her leadership for the next eight years. With the “No Child Left Behind Act” and Chancellor Rhee, the entire district looks bleak. Her underlying motives seem to mirror a sustainable district within the Green Revolution of global warming, along with Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao’s premise that the future workers of the 21st Century would be Asians and Hispanics.
K. Wells
Posted by: K. Wells | Jul 26, 2008 4:26:11 AM
Three reasons why school fails. Administrators, teachers and parents.
I'm foreigner living in Atlanta and see exactly the same school failure. School administrators are corrupt and incompetent just like DC. Teachers lost the reason for being in school except collecting checks. Parents are not there for their children. Nobody before Michelle Rhee had this urgency in DC school.
Teachers and parents! Aren't you paranoid about your kids failing in school or numb about it? I see Ms. Rhee has the urgency and determination. Ms. Rhee, don't worry about these complaining teachers and parents. They are the reason for school failures.
Go Michelle, you're doing the right thing.
Posted by: Slee | Jul 27, 2008 12:34:08 AM
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