October 6, 2008
Michelle Rhee Goes National (Kathy Kemper)
Back in February in this space, I talked about our new D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, calling her tough and talking about the steep hill she has to climb in her effort to reform the District's public schools under Mayor Adrian Fenty (D).
It’s seven months later, and Michelle Rhee is swinging for the fences, working her heart out to bring new energy into the city's public education system, wrecked by years of indifference and inaction by the Teachers Union. She's turning the system on its heels, and, so far, working to create real change.
I love that she is going to fire teachers who are bad educators. Why is the Teachers Union so scared? What do they think is wrong with accountability? How can they be against teachers being able to earn up to $130,000 a year? As Chancellor Rhee says, "The kids can no longer wait."
Along the way, she's scoring ink in Time magazine, The New York Times and other national publications — all for good reason. Simply put, she's not playing games. The Times said she's "moving at warp speed," and that she's making "dramatic" change. I call this LEADERSHIP.
Just think: A few years ago, our public schools were ridiculed across the United States. Now we have a chancellor making headlines because of the leadership, energy and change she's bringing to the city. This represents hope at its best. Rhee and her team are taking on a behemoth of a system — gigantic in its makeup and one that's been moving at the speed of the Titanic in recent years.
A protégé of the great New York City chancellor, Joel Klein, Rhee has been Mayor Fenty's best pick, best move, best stroke of smarts since taking the mayor's office two years ago.
I've spoken with Mayor Fenty about education many times in the past two years, and he's told me he has a desire to leave a mark on education that's strong and long-lasting. If Mayor Fenty wants to be the education mayor, appointing Michelle Rhee is the first step of many that appears to be paving the way for success.
Rhee told me over the winter that taking the position as schools chancellor was a "once-in-a-lifetime" chance to restore faith in the city's public schools and achieve the reform that many thought impossible.
"Change causes problems," she told me. Right now, she's on her way to fixing them.
It makes me proud to see our capital city take a leadership position in the nation’s broken public school system. Let the Fenty-Rhee team set a new paradigm in education merit and accountability. Let's make the United States proud of their capital city's leadership in education reform!
Kathy Kemper is founder and CEO of the Institute for Education, a nonprofit foundation that recognizes and promotes leadership and civility locally, nationally and in the world community.
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I wish Rhee much success. I am pro-union but I think the teachers' union has too much power. Crappy teachers can't be fired, and my son who is now 43 years old, told me many teachers [when he was in a south Florida public middle school for two years], do nothing in the classroom and nobody learned anything. This has been going on much too long.
Comment by Joyce — October 6, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
Right, Joyce.
I am pro-union too. But teaching is an delicate art that few are so well-disposed to pursue.
Rather, it has become a dumping ground for a cushy secure career with great benefits and summers off for the well-connected. Cronyisms and nepotism reign supreme, and the natural selection search for the most fitting of this art is hardly ever a factor in hiring.
It's like a roach motel, bad teachers check in, and they don't check out.
Rhee's idea is a stroke of genius. Let the dead wood die a slow death, or get bumped off competing with the real teachers. The union will have to change or die with them.
While
Comment by Fred from Oregon — October 6, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
Great move. Other industries fire bad workers when they don't meet expectations. Teachers need to be accountable in the same manner! There are plenty of good, ahrd working Americans waiting to fill the empty spots.
Comment by Meaghan — October 7, 2008 @ 11:01 am
I am a teacher. I am a member of the teachers’ union. I am scared. I am not afraid of accountability. I am not afraid of evaluation. I am afraid of having major rules changes after the game has begun. I am even more afraid of having the rules published after the game is over. At present the contract proposal wants to award bonuses to teachers based on performance. The problem is what indicators will be used to assess “performance” are TBD. Would you sign a contract that allowed you to earn a bonus without any idea what you would have to do to be paid? I do not want to be on the field “swinging for the fences”, only to learn at the end of the season that the most valuable player award will be judged based on ultimate Frisbee rules. You seem too invested in quality to consider this situation a desirable “new paradigm in educational merit and accountability.”
Comment by Rob — October 14, 2008 @ 11:42 pm