I have never met Michelle Rhee. Like many people in education, I’ve seen her speak on panels and at conferences, and I’ve read about her extensively. And let me say clearly, immediately and unambiguously that I support most of what she stands for. Furthermore, I am in absolute agreement that a profound lack of patience is the only reasonable response to a failed and sclerotic urban school system. I get it.
Michelle Rhee is starting to make me nervous. I don’t mean giddy-excited nervous, but wincing, “uh-oh” nervous. With her appearance on the cover of Time Magazine this week, she’s now officially the face of education reform in the U.S.
That face is wearing a scowl. America, say goodbye to Wendy “One Day, All Children” Kopp. Meet Michelle “I don’t give a crap” Rhee. Education reformers, say hello to your new cover girl:
In many private encounters with officials, bureaucrats and even fundraisers–who have committed millions of dollars to help her reform the schools–she doesn’t smile or nod or do any of the things most people do to put others at ease. She reads her BlackBerry when people talk to her. I have seen her walk out of small meetings held for her benefit without a word of explanation. She says things most superintendents would not. “The thing that kills me about education is that it’s so touchy-feely,” she tells me one afternoon in her office. Then she raises her chin and does what I come to recognize as her standard imitation of people she doesn’t respect. Sometimes she uses this voice to imitate teachers; other times, politicians or parents. Never students. “People say, ‘Well, you know, test scores don’t take into account creativity and the love of learning,’” she says with a drippy, grating voice, lowering her eyelids halfway. Then she snaps back to herself. “I’m like, ‘You know what? I don’t give a crap.’ Don’t get me wrong. Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don’t know how to read, I don’t care how creative you are. You’re not doing your job.”
Saying ”the thing that kills me about education is that it’s so touchy-feely” is kind of like saying, ”The thing that kills me about accountancy is that it’s so detail-oriented.” I’m as data-driven as the next guy, but education is now and always will be — must be — a people-driven enterprise. People are the product. The desire to successfully develop the capabilities of others is what gets teachers out of bed in the morning.
Even people who work for her seem to agree. By coincidence, the Washington Post’s Jay Mathews has a piece in today’s paper about Brian Betts, Rhee’s hand-picked principal of Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson. And Jay has him sounding downright touchy-feely.
Students and parents told Betts that many teachers they knew at Shaw and Garnet-Patterson didn’t care about them. “Nothing that I have ever seen trumps personal relationships at this level,” Betts said. “The kids in this building who can be absolutely horrible in one person’s class can be angelic in another because they have formed a relationship with that teacher.”
Full disclosure: I worked at Time Magazine long enough to know that a taste for “thesis journalism” is practically stamped on newsmagazines’ genetic code. Maybe that’s what’s happening here. The reporter decides the direction she’s taking the story, and piles on the quotes and anecdotes to paint the picture of Michelle Rhee, hard-charging, no excuses type. See Rhee scowling at a teacher; see Rhee walking out of a meeting punching text into her Blackberry without so much as a “good day.” She’s on a mission, dammit, and niceties aren’t on the agenda! Even the cover — especially the cover — See Michelle Rhee with a broom! She’s the new broom!
Here’s what worries me: accurate or inaccurate, fair or unfair, the increasingly confrontational, impatient, blunt, even rude public persona that’s affixing itself to the Washington, DC schools chancellor runs the risk of getting in the way of what Michelle Rhee wants to accomplish. I’ll put it bluntly: piss off enough people whose help is essential to your success, and your failure becomes inevitable, a consummation devoutly to be wished. Then for years to come, the answer to the reforms anyone proposes becomes, “Oh yes, we tried that in Washington under Michelle Rhee and you remember how that worked out.” If she fails, Michelle Rhee’s failure will not be hers alone. At worst, she runs the risk of damaging the ed reform “brand” for a generation.
The bottom line: Most people want to see Michelle Rhee succeed. But some would like nothing more than to see her go down in flames. It’s important not to upset that balance and add boxcar numbers of people (you know, people and whatever) to the those who are already sharpening long knives. That’s not being touchy-feely. It’s being pragmatic. A lot of other people’s dreams, plans and hard work are riding with Michelle Rhee on that broom. And it’s a long way down.
Fair point Robert.
It may be, however, that unless you are constitutionally wired to be wholly unable to handle bullshit — and to therefore have a sometimes unpleasant need to call it when you see it, every single time, bar none, zero exceptions — you cannot change a system as deeply troubled as an urban district.
Put it this way: if we were going to bet, right now, on which urban system would be the best in 5 years – not most improved, but the best – where’d you put your money?
Best = where a black or Hispanic kid from low-income family and attending an open-admission school has highest NAEP and highest likelihood of college graduation.
Chicago? NYC? NOLA? Philly? LA? Boston?
I’d bet DC.
Mike, I’d bet Boston. At least Massachusetts has had a track record of improving what/how their students learn.
Michelle Rhee, while admirable for taking on the DC challenge, is focusing on all the wrong aspects of school as a means to improve student learning. Her energy and devotion towards improving schools is great, her programs are not.
I would have bet Boston, Mike, but if you’re there and say DC, I’ll take your point. If nothing else it’s the smallest. And smaller boats are easier to turn in the water.
Meaningful reform breaks the dishes, clearly. It makes plenty of enemies on its own. I’m not sure I see a great management strategy in going out of your way to make more, if that’s what she’s doing. Like it or not, public education is a political act. You need good will to win.
There’s a story in the new Atlantic on Rhee, too–also kind of cringe-inducing. Michelle Rhee has energy and good talking points, but no one person can transform systemic collapse single-handedly by answering thousands of e-mails, snappy comebacks and firing low performers.
I’d put my money on a system where leadership was distributed and non-adversarial. People work better when they’re not fearful or angry–didn’t Deming teach us that?
We should add Atlanta to your list of cities. During long-time superintendent Beverly Hall’s tenure, Atlanta students have made significant, steady gains in NAEP scores. None of the other cities listed above–including much-celebrated New York City–can boast as much.
Part of the problem here is that the national media all but ignore the successes of districts like Atlanta, because they prefer to follow knock-down-drag-out fights in cities like DC. Regardless of its accuracy, Time’s portrayal of Michelle Rhee as a scowling bruiser spoiling for a fight feeds common misconceptions that EVERY successful superintendent has to fit that mold. As Robert notes, people interpret the failures of such celebrity superintendents as failures of school reform in general, and they lose faith in the all public school improvement initiatives. In the meantime, work in cities like Atlanta draws little popular attention or support. (Case in point: A friend of mine from Atlanta knew all about Rhee, but he couldn’t even name Beverly Hall.)
Larry Cuban just wrote an interesting piece on Rhee, whom he sees as the hare to Hall’s tortoise. As far as I can tell, Cuban’s article has received little attention, which bears out my concern.
(I’ll withhold judgment on Rhee herself. I have a beef with the media.)
Erin,
I live in Boston. I work in Boston. Believe me, Boston is no Jack Kennedy. Boston is Dan Quayle. Things are going backwards here.
Cheers,
Mike
I don’t know if becoming a school reform celebrity was Michelle Rhee’s choice, but she certainly hasn’t backed away from it, and I think its going to hurt her chances of success overall.
Yes, you have to shake things up to reform a dysfunctional system. But you also have to pick your fights wisely, and convince the functional people in the organization that you are working for the good of the organization. I don’t see that in Rhee — I see lots on energy, but focused on ideological issues (e.g. tenure) rather than specific problems — and I think there’s a good chance that she’s just going to bring a new type of dysfunction to the DC system.
Since when does having a blackberry or sending emails (even by the thousands) count as progress. The thing that is missing in each Rhee article is that it has been two years and what progress can we measure, and at what pace.
I like the tortoise and hare analogy, Claus. It makes perfect sense to me and not just as a metaphor. Everything I know tells me that there can be no quick fixes, and that real, lasting gains will only come from a top-to-bottom rethink of what’s going on inside the classroom, and a renewed focus on broad, rich education. That’s another reason for my misgiving about Rhee’s approach. Demanding results right now makes for good copy, but education is a deliberate, accretive process. A focus on short-term gains isn’t the answer.
Robert, Your classroom instruction point is right on and seems to be what is missing from the Rhee reforms. Where is her focus on improving instruction? Where is her focus on a broad, rich education? Just getting rid of the old teachers doesn’t mean that the new ones will be any better. Even paying teachers differently/better doesn’t mean that the kids will learn any more/better.
I can’t see in the coverage of Rhee any discussion of new teacher evaluation procedures. Teachers, like all humans, respond to incentives. If the message they receive is, don’t get on the bad side of the administrator or you will get fired, they will respond to that, but her impact will dissipate when she leaves. If she puts in place a real evaluation system (more than five observations with substantive feedback per year, meaningful correction procedures), then her reforms will outlast her.
While I think Rhee thinks she is doing the right thing, I am also afraid that she will go too far (if she already hasn’t). Everything is not as black and white as the newer education reformers think it is. When I say newer education reformers, I refer to people who think that charter schools, alternative teaching progras, and standardized tests are THE answer (meaning the only answer).
And I like the point about how the media views Rhee. In their eyes, as well as they eyes of a lot of people in our society (businessmen, politicans, etc), people don’t want a skilled, smart, tough (and patient) administrator. They want a ball buster. Rhee might be little bit of the former, but she certainly the latter. In short, people want Crazy Joe from Lean on Me.
“Most people want to see Michelle Rhee succeed. But some would like nothing more than to see her go down in flames. ”
I’d change that to “Most people want to see DC school reform succeed. But some would like nothing more than to see Rhee go down in flames, because she deserves it and the schools can’t possibly begin to succeed until she leaves.”
If you want to know what some DC citizens think about her, read the comments sections in any Washington Post article about her. It’s pretty negative and pretty different from what you see in the press. The Time piece comes the closest to characterizing her accurately, in my opinion. People I know in DC who have dealt with her don’t think that the Time article went far enough.
Well, of course, we all can’t send our kids to SIDWELL FRIENDS; and some are stuck with the D.C. public schools where a tough, no non-sense reformer with balls has finally taken over.
$!00,000 teachers, a 16% graduation rate, and, of course, it’s all the parent’s/community’s fault. Just a little dap of certification and staff development should do the trick; add in a dash of incentive pay, and another aide and, golly gee, those incompletes will disappear and the scores won’t look like a Dow Jones report.
Could be a little racism at work here….don’t all Korean-Americans look this serious? TIME should know better!
Common sense – there might also be a little racism at work in your post. No, all Koreans do NOT look alike.
Also, balls and a no-nonsense attitude are not all that is needed. Interpersonal skill and content knowledge are also called for in this job and in many jobs, actually.
There’s a certain logical fallacy at work in the “no excuses” model that can easily lead the Michelle Rhees of the world off a cliff (this occured to me while writing the “Poverty Matter vs. No Excuses” post, see above). If you really believe, as Ms. Rhee seems to that there are literally no excuses for a student’s failure to achieve, then if a student fails the teacher has failed by definition. That’s what no excuses means, right? Then are you not duty bound to dismiss that teacher? If you don’t, aren’t you accepting an excuse? Otherwise “no excuses” becomes yet another empty slogan. So either you’re prepared to fire everyone who fails, or you don’t believe in “no excuses.”
There’s a danger to overtly or tacitly overpromising. And I don’t think I’m making an excuse in saying so.
“No excuses” can go both ways.
Students should have no excuses for actions on their part, and teachers should have no excuses for actions on their part.
Michelle Rhee is just grand-standing. Her approach is going to be very short-lived and not very successful. Many teachers are already very embattled in their classrooms. They are fighting ignorance in communities where education is not seen as important. This is not the fault of the teacher. The kind of apathy towards education is institutionalized. So, Michelle Rhee has the power to fire people. Big deal. It’s been shown that intimidation and complete intolerance doesn’t work. Averting eye-contact and using her blackberry while people are speaking to her is just ignorant. That has nothing to do with good management of people. She started teaching in 1997. I have t-shirts older than that.
I am a good teacher. I get results with my students, too. I, for one, would like to see her fail. If she succeeds, our schools will become like corporations. The bottom-line has no place in schools. We are here to inspire and be creative. If we care enough about these kids, they will see it and they will learn.
But, let’s face it. She has over-simplified this. Some kids need to be removed from schools. They make teaching impossible. Where is that mentioned in this article? What does she plan to do about the children that ruin the environment for other kids?
When she puts a plan in place for alternative schools and starts holding these students and their families accountable – I’ll listen to her plan.
Until then, she is just blowing hot air.
Claus, not _all_ national media are ignoring Atlanta! EdWeek wrote about Beverly Hall last month.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/11/12/12atlanta-ep.h28.html
Michelle Rhee simply doesn’t accept that family issues are contributing factors to a child’s success in school – a teacher’s job is to improve test scores, no matter what. She states it repeatedly in press interviews.
what’s I’m waiting for is the journalist who will challenge her on that and ask the kind of follow-up questions that let Katie Couric show Sarah Palin’s incompetence.
If Rhee fails, and someone says “we tried that with Rhee and it didn’t work,” you say “there were other circumstances that affected that situation, we need to try it again.”
At a very core level, we need to be using logical thought processes to make decisions. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater in a situation like that is an example of the widespread lack of logical decision-making. It’s important that we point out the logical flaw in that argument, rather than cower before the very idea that someone might say that to us.
I agree, Dave. As I stated earlier, Rhee is attempting to intimidate the entire teaching community. I saw the Charlie Rose interview and its clear, to me at least, that she realizes that they are external factors that contribute to a child’s success or failure in school. Pinning this all on the teachers is a joke. I am sure she did a fine job in her classroom. And, I am by no means suggesting that teachers should just throw up their hands and stop trying to help these children. But, it is going to take more than the teacher to make this difference. This is a problem that society as a whole should be dealing with, right now. She shouldn’t be allowed to destroy people’s careers and lives.
That union in DC needs to get tougher and the politicians around her need to step up. I am all for the idea that each child needs to succeed. But, she knows damn well that there are numerous outside factors that contribute to that outcome. Teachers have students for about 35 hours a week. The other 133 hours are spent outside of school. We need to make the people who “care” for these children accountable, too. If you aren’t willing to face that – you are just blowing smoke.
First, who expects (trusts) a short article in a magazine like Time to give the full story – I am not ready to judge.
As someone who has spent 3 decades working to improve the effectiveness of schools for students, and have not seen positive substantive change occur for millions of students – I have no stomach for those who (continue) to argue for go slow. It is my experience that incremental change has not and cannot improve the existing system – three more generations of students harmed during my career, and no end in sight. The failure of our school system to educate students to a level so that they can be productive citizens in today’s global economy and world is a much greater tragedy and crises than our current fiscal crises.
It is very clear to me that the public education system will change when we make adults at risk when failure occurs, instead of children. Adults include parents, teachers, administrators, labor leaders and politicians.
It is the inertia and the suffocating power of the existing system that makes brash and bold leaders like Rhee so needed.
Dave – the alternative to “go slow” is not “drop a bomb” and that’s what Rhee is doing – wrecking the place.
Stopping Rhee is not like throwing out the baby with the bath water, it’s like removing the mines from the field.
Please consider that anti-Rhee comments are not necessarily from people who are resistant to change, but from people who recognize that what she’s doing isn’t helping, it’s hurting.
On this site and with a lot of Rhee criticism, a theme seems to be evident. The idea that Rhee is anti-teacher or trying to intimidate them or whatever. Call it naivety or what, but the perception I have of her does not intimidate me. I am a first year teacher–albeit a Teach For America one. I would love the shot to work for her in an environment where I am held accountable for the outcomes of my students. Of course I have kids that make it next to impossible to teach. Of course my relationships with my kids are important. Of course many of kids are under-socialized. But what really drags me down every day as a teacher is that no time is sacred and that I end up sitting through long meetings, manipulated onto committees, interrupted my dozens of bells and announcements during instruction throughout the day, repeating the same observation and action plan process in about five different formats with different supervisors and paperwork, endless tracking of separate, often-incoherent data, trying to implement an endless array of programs to which our district and school apparently never says no, etc. Basically going through the motions with everything, doing nothing well, and then making excuses in the end when our students don’t meet expectations. I would embrace someone who would help strip all that crap down to the point that I could spend my time tutoring, planning engaging lessons, writing aligned assessments, and discerning, tracking, and differentiating from the most meaningful data available. Even if my job is on the line when I do it. I say, bring it on.
Chris, I’m not sure if you’re being ironic with your response, however your post – sincerely or not — illustrates the pitfalls of this particular brand of accountability perfectly. You said, “Of course I have kids that make it next to impossible to teach.” Not to put too fine a point on it, but what part of “no excuses” do you not understand?
Chris, where did you get the idea that Rhee is “…someone who would help strip all that crap down to the point that I could spend my time tutoring, planning engaging lessons, writing aligned assessments, and discerning, tracking, and differentiating from the most meaningful data available.”
It sounds like you’ve imbued her with power to bestow your perfect teaching dream job. It sounds like idealizing and hero worship. Seriously, I challenge you to find anything she’s said or that’s been reported about her that states or implies anything you’ve said above. I’d like to see it.
I think I like this Michelle Rhee! Finally there’s someone who agrees with what I have been saying for YEARS! When one of my step-children was being ignored by his teachers to the point where he was passed through his grades just for the sake of the school to qualify for state funding (smaller schools) and I discover on my own that he couldn’t even READ at age EIGHT, then that’s a CRIME! I’m SICK TO DEATH of hearing how underpaid teachers are, and how they sacrifice for “their kids.” That’s not any more true for their profession than any other profession that works hard, and other professions have to work THE ENTIRE 12 MONTHS to make their salary! PLUS they don’t usually get tenure OR special nods from the President; special “teacher’s” discounts at stores; special “teacher’s” discounts on college tuitions; and hundreds if not thousands of different “specials” for just being “teachers! Why, teachers get more nods than ANY profession that I know of and their work is the most SUBSTANDARD that I know of. Oh, and you’ll say that I don’t know what a HARD profession it is, correct? WRONG! I have homeschooled and helped in the homeschooling of six different children who have gone on to graduate with flying colors!
Congratulations to Michelle Rhee! Any of the teachers that aren’t behind her are afraid that she’ll find out they haven’t been working as hard as they should have been. There are a few of those teachers that do deserve a special nod for going above and beyond what is expected of them–I realize that–but to believe the whole profession should be given deity just for doing what is expected of them is ridiculous!
When I heard Wedy Kopp start off a speech with a Theodore Roosevelt quote a few years ago I knew a Big Stick approach was on the horizon. Rhee’s leadership style and management ethics remind me of George Bush. Unilateral, unwavering and unaffected by criticism.
We know that extreme stress impairs cognitive development, so import that 100 miles an hour, endless work, long hours, work the weekend mindset into the schools – for either the teachers or the children?
I can’t say it better than Michael Fiorillo did in a comment at themail@dcwatch.com
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The Michelle rhees of the world have been groomed and placed in their positions of power to:
1. Exert absolute managerial control over the clasroom, as they have in virtually every other workplace. The obsession with quantifiable data is part of that, since if you control the information you control the work.
2. Socialize the overwhelming majority of youngsters in the US to a future life of overwork( see longer school day and year), stress (see pressure and stigmatization regarding test-taking), tedium (see endless test prep) and remote surveillance (see massive data bases used to make policy decisions regarding schools, teachers an students, and reportedly even used in planning future prison construction).
Just as the debate over the auto industry is a covert discussion about the existence of the UAW and industral unions, so too the debate about Michelle Rhee and the WTU is a debate about the voice of teachers in the clasroom, the continuation of teaching as a profession and career, and the model and purpose of education in general. Should she win, the floogates will open, and we’ll all be carried away.
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I saw this the other day: http://www.cafepress.com/rheeiswrong
“DC Public Schools – Education Without Representaton
HILARIOUS!
Cynde – It’s not clear how you know that “Any of the teachers that aren’t behind her are afraid that she’ll find out they haven’t been working as hard as they should have been.” Do you have data to support that?
If it’s something you simply believe, perhaps you should go to washington DC to work in the public school system. The new regime seems to prefer people who believe, without any evidence and who openly disparage all teachers the way you just did.
Beware, though, if you express an idea the administration doesn’t approve of, you may be fired “at will” regardless of your professional capabilities.
Cynde – What you went through is wrong. But, you don’t know anything about what teachers deal with in a classroom. In classrooms like the ones in Philadelphia, teachers deal with students who come from homes where learning is not a priority and students are TOLD they can disrespect their teachers, if they feel they want to do it. We get no support from anyone at home. No one here just allows students to pass when they can’t read. That decision is not made by teachers. It is made by people above the teachers who know that if every child who is unable to read on grade-level is allowed to fail, schools would be overflowing with kids. Failing these students does nothing to motivate them or their families to help these students succeed. I have a student who was kept in 7th grade, this year. His behavior hasn’t changed, at all. He comes to school and he makes it impossible to teach. But, we can’t transfer him to another school because he isn’t violent. So, we just have to keep him – and watch, as day after day, he ruins the classroom environment for everyone. And, he is one of about 100 kids just like him in this school alone.
So, this problem is bigger than just teachers. Michelle Rhee is joking when she wants to blame this on teachers alone. She knows it and so do we.
I am afraid for the lasting effects of Rhee’s actions. I agree that the DC School System (and many other urban school systems for that matter) needs drastic change. Many of these changes need to come from the policy level. However, I do not agree with Rhee on her methods and how she is going about bringing change.
First of all, I think she should try and build personal connections with her teachers. Many of these teacher feel that they do not have support in their work. If you motivate your staff, they will work hard for you. Threatening teachers with at-will firing will stress them to the point where they cannot do their jobs effectively. If she doesn’t like the way teachers are teaching, she should put money into good training programs and require teachers to attend. You can MAKE these teachers teach better. If she just gets rid of them, how can she find that many new teachers to replace them? How can she guarantee that the new teachers are any better? Hire Teach for America? There is no conclusive evidence that TFA teachers are any more effective, and the fact of the matter is that they will most likely leave after their 2 year commitment and that creates a revolving door of teachers coming and going, which is costly and damaging to the schools.
Secondly, she fails to make personal connections with the students. Many people talk about how to establish long-term change in urban schools and the best way to do so at the school level is to instill hope in the kids and believe in them. When they see that, they will work for you. Teachers and administrators have to truly believe in the students. When you get a student to trust you, they will work and change their mentality. Rhee neither sets a good example for the students nor takes the time to listen to their concerns. In fact, she doesn’t even listen to the community or the parents. I don’t think she realizes that if her plans and methods don’t work, she has created an environment of chaos that is most damaging to the students. It makes me think because perhaps she doesn’t care because this is not her community and she has no personal ties to Washington DC. Her life will go on, but the students have to suffer for many more years to come.
Rhee’s work ethic and demeanor is not a good example to set for the teachers or the students. She doesn’t seem pleasant to work for, so any new teacher looking for a job wouldn’t walk into a stressful environment like the one she has created. A Many of her actions seem politically driven and she takes actions that fulfill some kind of stereotype about her.ll these things will lead to her eventual downfall and no one to pick up the pieces. We need to find someone who is willing to compromise and truly have the kids’ interests at heart. I don’t mean any disrespect to her or her ideologies, which I believe are noble, but she needs to take into consideration a lot of things and think about the long-term consequences of her actions.
Very nicely said, Amina.
Certainly the desire to make drastic, positive changes in the DC schools is a noble cause. It is one that is shared by many people in DC, not just Rhee, and not even mainly Rhee, as there is no evidence that what she has done is positive and much evidence (given the culture of fear and distrust she has encouraged) that what she has done is negative.
Exactly.
We are trying to change the children and the community. I went to school to become a teacher. I didnt go to school to get a job that would make me millions of dollars. I opted for a career I believed to be a noble pursuit. It’s what I wanted to do.
Michelle Rhee says that she is just trying to hold teachers accountable. But, its so much more than that. She is not helping the problem because that starts in the homes of these children. If the teachers get no support – they can’t succeed.
It’s not like teaching is done in groups. At the end of the day, it’s one person in a room with many children. If those kids dont respect education, there is little that can be done to change it.
Some kids need to be removed from our school communities so that others can actually be successful – and she knows it. The key to success is not in firing teachers. At least they are willing to do their jobs.
Or, at least – they should be.
Mary, to get back to the article that inspired this blog:
“Rhee has promised to make Washington the highest-performing urban school district in the nation, a prospect that, if realized, could transform the way schools across the country are run. She is attempting to do this through a relentless focus on finding–and rewarding–strong teachers, purging incompetent ones and weakening the tenure system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom.
“When a teacher stopped lecturing to greet her, she motioned for the teacher to continue. Rhee smiled only when students smiled at her first. Within two minutes, she had seen enough, and she stalked out to the next classroom.
“In the hallway, she muttered about teachers who spend too much time cutting out elaborate bulletin-board decorations or chitchatting at “morning meetings” with their third-graders before the real work begins.
“In the year and a half she’s been on the job, Rhee has made more changes than most school leaders–even reform-minded ones–make in five years.
“People say, ‘Well, you know, test scores don’t take into account creativity and the love of learning,’” she says with a drippy, grating voice, lowering her eyelids halfway. Then she snaps back to herself. “I’m like, ‘You know what? I don’t give a crap.’ Don’t get me wrong. Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don’t know how to read, I don’t care how creative you are. You’re not doing your job.”
Indeed, cutting the bureaucracy is only a pipe dream if we let it be. And it’s about time someone brought some non-PC truthfulness (which even TFA is definitely guilty of) to the conversation.
To Robert: the point is this, regardless of the semantics. No kid is “impossible,” though they certainly seem like it. I am a first-year teacher with no clue but have a student who was my biggest challenge–swearing at me, walking out of class, fighting, his mom hanging up on me, the works, EVERY DAY for about two months–but with some consistent high expectations, he’s in class now, taking notes, keeping his mouth shut (for the most parts), and speaking to me respectfully toward the end of the first semester and showing great promise for legitimate gains this year.
And to Kevin, your comment about overwork is definitely right on, and your concern valid. But to anyone who’s been in these kinds of schools: is there any other alternative? I would love to hear it as a first year corps member. These kids are so far behind and so under-socialized. Sure, it would help if the cultural situations surrounding inner city schools changed, but in the mean time–while they don’t–should people just sit around, work their 40-hour week and not care that 5th or 8th or 11th graders can barely read?!!
Chris, I’m not sure the examples you site meet the test for “cutting the bureacracy.” (bulletin boards? morning meetings with third graders?) Having worked with dozens of first year TFAers, I applaud your conviction and drive. So back to my original post, way back when tell me about your challenging student. How did you bring him in for a landing? What did your brand of “consistent high expectations” look like? What worked? I’m guessing it took a bit of empathy, a human connection, not merely scowling and barking at the kid all day. Second, tell me about the amount of your classroom time, as well as the planning time after school, that was taken up by your two-month long intervention. I’m asking this is earnest: was the progress of other less challenging students affected by the amount of effort it took you to get this individual student “showing great promise for legitimate gains?” How do you think this allotment of your time and resources will manifest itself in your test scores? And what will your Chancellor think?
Time will tell about the test scores; obviously I can’t answer that at this point. I will say the learning time we’re gaining as a result of his diminished disruption is a benefit to ALL students. But I can tell you this about the student: I wasn’t spending my 4:00-10:00 hours thinking and strategizing about how to “win him over.” Honestly, my thought was that the only thing I control is that I treat him with dignity; the results were and still are a bit out of my hands. So I look him in the eye, greet him, write him an occasional note, shake his hand when he’ll let me, refer him when he swears at me in front of other students, but try not to raise my voice at him or get angry with him. When he’ll talk and when I have time I ask him how’s doing, compliment him for his improvements, thank him for them, try to gauge what he’s interested in, etc. Yes, there was empathy, and no I don’t “bark at him.” But I also never tolerated his speaking to me in a way that I would not–as his teacher–be allowed to speak to him. Which means he did spend some time outside of the class and even the school. In short, I HAVE NO IDEA what “I did.” And nor do I think the case is really closed here. Honestly, our school has a lot of problems with teacher turnover–quitting and switching grade levels, etc. I think the biggest thing I did was keep coming back, keep showing up. Stability, trust. And I didn’t give up on him and neither will I. At our school, while he is one of the more severe cases, unfortunately his behavior is not uncommon at ANY grade level (I teach 5th).
Chris – what if you had two or three kids like that in your class and did not have administration back-up when you sent them to the office? and were threatened with being put on a 90 day plan leading to termination(regardless of a history of “exceeds expectations” ratings)if you continued making referrals (a sign to the administration that you couldn’t control your class? and test scores went down that year because of the disruptions caused by those unruly students? That is the situation that DC teachers are in under the Rhee administration, that threatens both teachers and principals if they don’t somehow manage to raise test scores despite conditions completely beyond their control.
As to your question: “Sure, it would help if the cultural situations surrounding inner city schools changed, but in the mean time–while they don’t–should people just sit around, work their 40-hour week and not care that 5th or 8th or 11th graders can barely read?!!”
I think it simplifies and misrepresents the situation. No one is suggesting that teachers should just “sit around,” not caring that kids can’t read, as if competent, engaged teachers are all it takes to transform the situation. Obviously, it’s a complex situation that requires a complex, and probably time-consuming solution. Yes, we have to start right now, but dropping a bomb in the middle of it, while certainly transformative, still results in a heap of rubble, with no solution.
Yes, I realize it’s all complex. I have several more students who are like the one being discussed here (in no way is the student I talked about the one with the most referrals or even suspensions), and they often DO get sent back to class after being referred. It takes more than referring students, obviously. But to answer your question, if I worked my butt off, did everything I could, and got fired by an administration like Rhee’s who deemed my teaching ineffective, I would tip my hat, sigh of relief, and find a new career or job. I don’t pretend to have a bunch of answers here, but I will say schools who tolerate students cussing out teachers or fighting or stomping out of class probably would benefit from a new administration. As for the question of mine you bring up, that was directed at a very specific criticism of Rhee contributing to a culture of workaholism. And so the question stands. I understand that what many teachers who do well in inner cities are working way too many long hours. But I ask, what is another alternative? I would seriously love to hear it because I’m sick of working 80-hour weeks.
Stop. Time out. We need to let this roll around our brain pans for a hot minute:
“if I worked my butt off, did everything I could, and got fired by an administration like Rhee’s who deemed my teaching ineffective, I would tip my hat, sigh of relief, and find a new career or job.”
Chris, you’re TFA, which we can assume means you were a top performer at one of the nation’s best colleges. You’re clearly dedicated and driven. Yet, if I understand you right, you’re putting in 80-hour weeks, but still struggling and even willing to accept that you might not be good enough to cut it. What does it say about the potential to close the achievement gap at scale in struggling schools when people like you aren’t enough? If we can’t turn people like Chris into effective teachers, then what rocks do we expect to turn over to uncover the tens of thousands of gap-closing stars we need?
So back to where we began. If the solution is get “no excuses” people like Chris in challenging classrooms only to see them struggle, and then have these highly credentialed people “tip their hat and find a new career,” believing that they themselves are the failures, may I suggest that there are limits to what we can expect from merely declaring “no excuses” and, when that doesn’t work, “off with their heads.”
Let me state the obvious, inconvenient truth: This ain’t gonna cut it, folks.
“Throw the water Dorothy,” said the Tin Man ! Come on Toto and we need to get that broom to the Wiz and ease on down the Yellow Brick road ! We’re following this reform closely and it’s like a ship rookie captain sailing with the extreme reinforcement of NCLB and a law clearly unfunded in an economic storm. Visualize the broom catching on fire and puffs of purple and red smoke…ha and this broom reform is proceedually and operationally out of control and so is the ship. Is there no administrative remedy in the real world ? “I’ll get you my little pretty and your teachers too.” Yeah right,and touch the ruby shoes and your fingers will catch on fire ! Stabalize your building operations! Proceedual violations flying !Support with resources and the top down accountability is icebergs ahead ! Sweeping changes of administrative strategic planning needs evaluation and revise and icebergs ahead !Never seen so many flying monkeys in this radical,mind changing teacher contract now in crisis bargaining.Is this radically charted navigational reform ship with the call letters of Pl 107-110 docking, without smashing into all the other ships called reauthorization ? See that ship docking, tuck and duck,jump and run! Kinda like President Bush did with the flying shoes !Is Rhee trying to rewrite our educational laws and Constitution as she sails along or what ? That scares me and who’s going to re-write our educational law books and administrative proceedures ? We need money to update the curriculum and text books for students ! If you think teachers are going to give up tenure for this unexperienced thirty eight year old, bee eating crazy reform vision of Charter and autonomus schools for some radical disorganized administrative approach under NCLB, an unfunded law of inequality with all the facts and research in, it’s a fairy tale and the end !Get your proceedures of administration and leadership books out ! If I only had a brain ! Read Manufactured Crisis ! Sick em Toto ! We aren’t allowed to use profainity and slang ugly words in education and go see the Dean of Education Rhee reform ! Laughing after reading this article above and it’s so far, one of my favorites ! Every survival kit needs a sense of humor !Positive school climate, tone,vision , organization as Rhee reform takes us into the Twilght Zone. Rod Sterling would be amazed the school system doesn’t even have a public audit published and there are issues indicated of concern with the budget transparancy. The systems organization and academic programs driven are unclearly charted on the map ! There is a judge and two attorney’s investigating FAPE,GS 94-142 and there is no telling what’s going on with GS 115C-321…? There is an Abolishment Statute in appeals with the Supreme Court and it’s just like one flying monkey after another. Why ? No one is driving the budget to support from the bottom up and the building conditions in schools are shocking in reports read. Now all the teachers are threatened on 90 day action plans and good principles resign viewing this mandate unjust and reasonably so under NCLB, clearly a law unfunded. In conclusion,”Therefore,by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitatus Committeeatum e pluris unum,I hereby confer upon Rhee reform the honory degree” of “F” in radical reform under the reauthorization of NCLB ! Not to mention the slang and profanity used in communications with the news as a representative of Public Education. For $275,000 a year reporting with the news in business and education may we find adjectives a little more intelligent to describe our vision of radical reform please. God Bless America and Public Education ! We’re getting a bailout package and our American school buildings fixed up !States can use it or lose it ! We read the counsil is looking into hiring someone to go in and help Rhee with administrative strategic planning and her navigational course of action. 2 out of 10 Americans believe the NCLB legislation should be continued without “significant change” and lack of funding tops the biggest problems for the sixth year in a row per Phi Delta Kappa & Gallop polling. Let’s kick in a little more transparancy for these testing corporations and take a look at where the US is placed. Call Ringling Brothers for a little revise. The educational tax credits and philanthropy tax credits and don’t think the superintendent across the country don’t have their eyes on that like Owls hunting a mouse ! Respecting the uniformity clause and funding flexibility but what is Rhee’s formula? Let’s see the consolidated school operations budget and get your glasses on cause not sure we’ll see a fair balance of interests and equality. Current expenditures,repairs and renovations and hope the copy machines are working as the teachers are placed on 90 day action plans. The school chilren aren’t allowed to bring their books home to do homework with this Rhee funding formula. Hooray ! No homework and the principle has no funding to run her business with Rhee’s top down accountability and it’s wrong !1. The provisions to encourage multiple measures of assessment and multiple indicators of school reform.2.The provisions to improve the quality and distribution of the teaching force. Hire,Train and Support !3. The means for measuring school progress from year to year. No dings docking on the “Push Out” high stakes testing policy from states ! You want to check out some sharp action and vision for reform going on in education, then watch the video’s with Linda Darling Hammond,Noguera and Dr. Wood. The Forum for Ed. and Democracy.The US is placing 19th out of 40 countries in reading,20th in science and 28th in math viewing PISA and TIMSS results. Team up and get that ball Public Education ! We’ll rise from the ashes and make a come back ! Spare us the bad press under NCLB and go read Developing A New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives by Guskey and Marzano. Teaching and learning is fun and where is school spirit in all this Rhee reform ? Motivate to engage and smile ! You’re on Time Magizine ! “Don’t you carry nothing that might be a load,come on ease on down the road….” Where is the Wiz ? Lions and Tigers and Bears,oh my !The NCLB ship is sinking and it’s a matter of what to save before it goes down ! Stand there and argue but the rest of us are getting our life jackets on and the rescue ships will hopefully be on the way soon !SOS Rhee reform ! We gotta get a bailout ! Hoist the lines and cut off their wind and look out for that Rhee ship sailing in ! TAC !
Robert – well said.
Also, Chris – please consider that in the Rhee administration, you might be asked to leave even if you’re a good teacher. Perhaps she thinks you know where the bodies are buried, or she doesn’t like the reports you’ve sent directly to her (at her suggestion) about discipline problems at your school. Maybe she thinks getting rid of a good teacher like you will strike fear into the hearts of other teachers and keep them in line.
She’s been known to use these tactics on principals and would likely use them on teachers if firing them were as easy.
These recent Washington Post articles will provide further information. Be sure to check out the comments section to see how DC residents feel about the school system.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2008/11/rhee_more_principals_facing_th.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/19/AR2008111902240.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111003038.html
(“D.C. Fires Principal After Surge Of Violence – Educator Says She Was ‘Set Up’ at Hart Middle School)
But the point is I don’t expect to be ineffective and get fired. I was answering a hypothetical question: “What if you…?”
At this point I’m working hard but seeing somewhat hopeful results in my first year as a teacher. With minimal training. And five years from now, or ten or thirty, I see no reason why I wouldn’t be light years better than I am now.
And to clarify: I do NOT think teachers are the only piece of the puzzle here, regardless of what TFA or even Michelle Rhee thinks. But they are a very important piece that can tip the scales.
And I have yet to hear the answer: what is a better alternative to holding teachers accountable to results?
What’s the goal? To improve results? Or to hold someone accountable?
Chris, I’m saying, in Michelle Rhee’s world you CAN be effective and get fired — it’s already happening — which is part of the reason why DC teachers don’t want to take a chance with her. They don’t trust her.
I don’t have a complete answer to how to get better results – but I know, from common sense, that it can’t be ALL the teacher – when the surrounding environment of the “product” (students) is so variable and even students in a positive environment can be so variable from year to year (e.g., different aptitudes, interests and talents).
If a teacher raises scores significantly one year, and then the next year raises them less, or not at all, you can’t say that is completely the teacher’s responsibility – it could have to do with a naturally occurring difference in student aptitude, number of snow days, outside forces (increased parental divorces, job layoffs, etc.) Those are hard to measure and Rhee dismisses them completely.
More factors that can be measured and changed could be focused on – e.g. – teacher subject-matter proficiency (and something equivalent for principals), writing and speaking skills, social skills, general fund of knowledge and vocabulary. Professionals are obliged to meet standards for employment and can be expected to improve on whatever they lack.
There – that’s a place to start.
Really, if we move a dedicated teacher with long-term success with middle-income, college-bound students with vigilent parents into a school with low-income, non-college-bound, largely absent parents, do we fire that teacher if they can’t get the same results?
Here’s something I lifted from comments on a Washington Post editorial about the Union and Rhee working together. Ithink it really captures the key issues:
As a long-time school board member, I question the Post’s equating of testing with actual performance measurement. Students come to class with diverse characteristics — parental background and support, skills and intelligence, interests, their personal learning style and social skills and community support. What any reasonably alert parent and any competent third grade teacher can verify is that kids are different, and that they demonstrate mastery of skills and knowledge in different ways. For many, standardized testing simply isn’t enough to evaluate performance, let alone to imply causality.
The issue is not whether teachers should be expected to perform, but whether those measuring teacher performance are using meaningful measures. Standardized tests may work in a very stable educational environment, but many schools must deal with enormous complications like significant churn in student enrollments, lack of support for ESL and LD students, and the chronic problems of overcrowding, lack of curriculum materials and lack of prep time.
Finally, education is cumulative; why do we assume that it is the most recent teacher who is responsible for student performance, or the lack of it?
Let’s focus on training and retaining good teachers…not on making them all the target for every perceived failure of our society.
Posted here:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/14/AR2008121401787_Comments.html
“Every perceived failure of our society” is a bit of a stretch.”
Secondly, I don’t think ANYONE–probably not Rhee and DEFINITELY NOT me–are suggesting that the current methods of standardized testing are sufficient. I have never tested well objectively, but have always done well on written tests. Basically, TFA became really attractive to me after I scored too low on the GRE to really pursue the grad programs that I was interested in (except, ironically, the writing section, which hardly matters at all to admissions offices).
Not too mention, some of my best students currently scored in the lowest quartile last year on the FCAT probably because they were having a bad day that day and didn’t really take it seriously. On another day, they would have done fine. But the fact remains that there are teachers out there who do it consistently well in really tough environments. It wasn’t an accident what aime Escalante did in L.A., and somehow I doubt he did it by complaining about the factors that have been mentioned on this blog. So Rhee and others want to find those people and reward them for their efforts. I’m all for it.
And Rhee’s correct in her observation that being able to read is a more important skill than creativity–it must come first. Standardized testing is a starting point for measuring achievement, not an end. There aren’t too many people out there who really glorify standardized testing.
But don’t you see, Chris, that Rhee isn’t saying reading should come before creativity, she is implying that it’s silly for teachers to value creativity. She is trying to set up a false dichotomy, as she often does, in this case between reading and creativity. She’s also done it with young teachers/old teachers and low performing/high performing students, standardized testing vs no accountability. It’s usually some form of those awful people who don’t agree with me and those wonderful people who do.
Funny that you should pick up on “Every perceived failure in our society” as a bit of a stretch (which it is) without catching the huge stretches that Rhee makes.
You sound like just the kind of teacher she’s looking for. Please consider packing your bags for DC soon. There are a lot of teacher openings here. Remember in the interview to be careful not to imply that anything other than a good teacher is needed to improve learning. Suggestions that other factors may have an impact may cost your the job. I suppose it’s OK to think that factors outside of school also affect children,just don’t say it and don’t act like it once you get the job. Here’s a quote from a recent Post article about a hot new DC principal:
“A young teacher from New Jersey named Meredith Leonard was hired after saying: “Every kid can learn, and we all say that, but what is missing is the last part of the sentence: Every kid can learn given the motivation, given the supports, given the expectations. I will be motivating my kids, I will be giving my kids the support and I will be expecting them to do it.”
Many more applicants, including experienced teachers, blamed the bad test scores on undereducated parents and impoverished homes and suggested that those social ailments would be hard to cure. They weren’t hired. Betts is happy to be left with an eager and optimistic staff.
Full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113001929.html
I suggest you don’t immediately buy real estate here, though, in case you decide not to stay (I hear a lot of new teachers have left already) or you get fired for not “fitting in.”
Whoa, from respectful disagreement to personal attack. I won’t be packing my bags any time soon because we have work left to do here in Jacksonville. I wonder if Michelle Rhee was a part of this conversation if she would accept everything you say she thinks? I don’t know; I’ve never met the woman. Nor do I see her as the savior of education as you seem to think I do. I just appreciate her approach of direct honesty and am intrigued as to how things will turn out.
Chris – where is the direct attack? Seriously – I don’t know what you mean.
I also don’t know what you mean by Rhee’s direct honesty – could you give me an example.
I DO understand your comment about Rhee’s take on my take of her. I assume she’d disagree. She says she always puts children’s interests first, with the implication that whomever disagrees with her puts their interests before children’s interests.
An example of direct honesty that needs to happen more in education. Walking out of meetings that don’t matter or get anything accomplished.
And when, to your knowledge, did Rhee walk out on such a meeting?
And what about my other question, regarding the “direct attack?”
If you read the article, apparently walking out of the meetings is fairly common. The statement about some teacher being nice but should work at the Post Office is another one that comes to mind. Gesturing to the teacher to get back to teaching when she greets her in the room, etc.
As for your previous message, it clearly seeped with sarcasm and a sense of trying to bait me into something other than these issues.
The problem with this forum speaks directly to why teachers can’t organize themselves against someone like Michelle Rhee. Eventually, the talk turns to personal disagreements. If someone on this board says something you don’t agree with, you don’t really need to go back and forth with them until the conversation gets bogged down in the details. Any group of people that want to unite themselves in the face of opposition like Rhee needs to put differences aside so that a more powerful union can be formed. Michelle Rhee would like nothing more than to see teachers divided while they argue about her policies.
What she really needs to see is more and more message boards loaded with people who stand against the worst of her policies. That is the only way teachers can stand against her. Its also the only way we will get any traction. I don’t even teach in D.C. and I stand firmly against Michelle Rhee. Her policies are some of the worst I have ever seen. Intimidating professionals is not the way you turn a system around. She is really only doing this for personal gain.
If you can’t see that – and you don’t think that is worth standing against – you’re blind. Can you even name three other school CEO’s without looking them up?
Probably not.
None of them seek as much attention as Rhee. She is like a child on a playground who doesn’t just take her ball and go home – she takes her ball, throws it into traffic – and closes down all the playgrounds within walking distance.
Who knows what’s happening with the contract ? How’s the 14th Amendment and the Constitution going with Rhee’s contractual proposal ?
Rhee has implemented a serious mandate in many schools ! 100 % Inclusion ! Bring the support services to the child rather than moving the child to the services. We may all agree the services prior to this implemented policy needs to ensure the services to the child are there and available ! Another policy implemented by an unrealistic expectation that money will be saved ?
I agree with Spike Lee. It’s time to put racism aside and give Rhee our support. None of the black chancellors in the past were smart enough to solve the mess. They tried but, but they just had too much self-interst. They could never see the whole “big pictire” of the DC school system. Rhee has a global mind and is a maverick. She’s making progress and is putting together a team of people that are smart, know how to plan and are not concerned about other people feelings. Her team is only concerned about meeting a goal. That goal is the successful education of DC’s students.
We need clones of Rhee throughout American educational systems. She has a very specific goal and does not play politics. All American school children need a superintendent (or chancellor) like her, and we, the American public and politicians, need to support her and others like her.