Did anyone else read the article in September's Ebony where Michelle Rhee proudly touts the fact that programs like TFA
and her 'New Teacher Project' are bringing in teachers
from the 'elite' schools? She had to backtrack when
Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College,
challenged her.
And, Rhee didn't mention that these programs bring in teachers with no disciplinary skills (such as herself -- remember her
fond anecdote about "taping shut students' mouths") and
who are temp. workers not committed to the profession of teaching (ditto).
These programs are NOT designed to develop
a professional corps of teachers.
As a teacher with 15 years experience,
I can tell you, no one becomes an expert in only 2 or 3 years.
I don't understand why Rhee (or anyone else) spends their energy trying to build and repair schools with these
types of temporary teachers.
They are a band aid --
nothting more
(band-aids are easily peeled off or fall off) --
a pseudo-reform sham providing cover for a
Wall Street-funded
edu-profiteering scam doesn't heal anything and
doesn't construct anything
lasting or worthwhile for the children.

--------------------------------------

reference to 39aka94

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. . . .
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."

------------------

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.

Test scores declined under Rhee and the achievement gap widened

DCPS ELEMENTARY TEST SCORES DOWN --
DECLINES IN READING AND MATH

under the "crappy" regime of
Hedge-Funders concubine
& Walmart family flunky
-- Michelle Rhee,
unaccountable & unqualified
'chancellor' --
(note: she's actually not legally qualified
and does not have certification to be
a district superintendent)

“The DCPS had lower math test scores
in grades 4 and 8 in 2009,
and District African-American
test scores went down”

read & view the
data = />
http://www.examiner.com/ward-5-in-washington-dc/rhee-fails-on-nation-s-report-card

-------------------------------

Yes, the adults are the problem when it comes to urban education. Many talented teachers leave the kids after two or three years, just as Rhee did.

I am not in the Baltimore and D.C. area, however, I am glad to see that someone is battling just as hard as I am to get kids the education in which is being paid for by the worker bees tax money, instead of teachers collecting paychecks while controlling whom gets a quality education and who does not because of whatever bogus reason. The bottom line is there should be no descrimination between education and the children which deserve it. Teachers should meet qualifications and have to keep those qualifications up to date by reviews just as any other job. Also I think a good idea would be for the union to random drug test teachers. Unions were devised to protect jobs for worthy employees, not to protect bad apples.

Ms. Rhee is begging to be fired.She wants to be the Marie Antonette of the school reform movement. A reasonable person would shut up by now to save her job and to continue the progress. She a goner.

She and Alonso come from the same breeding tank and have the same or similiar backers. The difference is Rhee answered to the Mayor. Alonso answers to no one. The School Board has been selected to be a bunch of bobbleheads for whatever plan AAA put forward. But their fates could be the same. The recent up raising by the cowardly BTU and the struggles of some of the charters could weaken his reform measures.

Does our CEO hate the union and blame teachers for the system-wide, city-wide, and culture-wide failures built up around the schools?

I guess there might be some similarities then.

As long as we keep throwing teachers under the bus and then blame their union for protecting "even the bad ones", this debate will never end.

I have yet to work with a principal that could follow either of these Union contract stipulations (these took me 5 minutes to find online, and are not hidden from non BTU members at all)

9.1.C: Tenured and non-tenured teachers shall be notified of a year-end unsatisfactory performance evaluation on or before May 1. No unsatisfactory performance evaluations may be issued
after that date.

9.1.D: The principal will make every effort to perform at least one classroom observation in the case of an unsatisfactory evaluation.

If my past admins did this as well as assigning PIPs and having regular monthly meetings with people they gave PIPs to, they could fire almost anyone they wanted... stop blaming Unions and "adults" and start following the easy-ready-to-read contract to cut out the teachers who don't actually do anything.

Wow, I'm so glad that 2 whole years of teaching experience at Harlem Park makes you an expert. I'm really glad Michelle Rhee has such a deep understanding of what it means to be a teacher.

Wow, a lot of hate for TFA from the DC contingent of commenters, huh? I'm curious if anyone has a link to some hard evidence about TFA and teacher retention in the DC/Baltimore school districts? Or is everyone just, you know, making broad generalizations and using stereotypes?

I'm curious also about people's feelings that commenters saying that people who weren't successful in the classroom aren't qualified to be CEOs of school districts. Could someone explain why this is? Personally, I'm not sure I agree with that idea...the skills of being a good teacher are different from the skills of being a good principal or coach or curriculum writer or superintendent. Certainly, there's some overlap, and I think it's valuable for people to have the experience of holding other jobs in education, but I'm not sure I'd call it a non-negotiable prerequisite. I think a good analogy might be an auto company; no one demands the CEO to have worked on the assembly line, and although having done it might gain you some respect from the people who still ARE working on the assembly line, it doesn't necessarily make you a better CEO (although the experience probably helps you understand the impact of your decisions).

There is very little difference between Andres Alsonso and Michelle Rhee. He has the same agenda but uses different tactics. Actually she is at least upfront with her agenda. He tends toward subterfuge.

Nothing has changed in the classroom since new leadership has taken over. We still have overcrowded classrooms in penitentary facilities. TFA is not the answer. Some great teachers come out of TFA, many have unrealistic ideals and cannot adapt culturally. Sticking privileged college kids in Baltimore city does not equate to better education. Rhee's quotes are interesting, did she reach her full potential in her 2 year TFA stint?

Simon, I am not going to directly address the TFA question. I accept good teachers wherever they come from and whoever they are. With regard to not having to be a good teacher in order to be an academic coach, administrator etc. I agree with you to a degree but not totally. I am an experienced,excellent teacher who has worn a number of career hats. What I am sick of is inexperienced staff who are full of theory but have no idea to apply it to the classroom. Their book smarts often do not translate to the classroom because they are esposing pure theory with little or no first hand experience in the real classroom with the students. Not so long ago, I happened to observe a young, inexperienced network/area person who was demonstrating a lesson in a classroom. She had little control. There were no small groups, little differentiation, and not much engagement.The person was nearly in tears. Yet she thought she could tell the rest of us what to do. Most of us have many years of experience plus graduate degees and multiple certifications. We CHOOSE to teach. Professionl development should be as differentiated as student instruction. True experts should be delivering meaningful PD based on my needs! Why does a first year teacher receive the same PD as an excellent 20 plus year teacher? These concerns are part of the reason for the negetive attitude about the staff with little experience who can sling the jargon and read from a script.Maybe student achievement would be better if I was actually allowed to apply my education and skills rather than following the latest trend/fad imposed on me by the latest BCPSS administration.

I think a more problematic issues is that lack of principal's in upper leadership. Rhee and Alonso have zero principal time. Sorry to say running a school is a complex and difficult task, one that must be done to truly understand.

Following the contract isn't all that tough Brandon, it's actually a joke. The throw away culture for staff isn't the solution, nor is the 2 yr "bandaid". There are few schools that retain and develop people, and that certainly doesn't happen for principals.

No matter what happens or what you think of their policies, Rhee and Alonso are hatchet men. They will do the clearing, but they lack the relationships and ability to build people up. Building people up will be the primary job of the next system leaders.

Their is little leadership or professional growth in Baltimore. We are on a short time frame before the next wave of quality people leave because they are not being developed or supported.

Personally, I find that a lot of teachers who leave teaching in 2 or 3 years can't handle classroom management. I also don't feel like you have adequate understanding of what it means to be a teacher/ educator if you taught for a very brief period of time. I think that there should be a requirement that you must teacher for at least somewhere between 5 and 10 years before you can enter administration. And I certainly think that if you only taught for 2 years you're nowhere near qualified to run a school system, let alone an individual school. Rhee's TNTP experience is great, but I'll never believe that there's any substance to what she's saying.

I'm a better reading teacher because I regularly read. I'm a better writing teacher because I regularly write. School administrators are better when they are educators, not fly by night teachers who are out in 2 years.

@wise educator: I think you're helping me make my point, actually. The skills needed to be a good teacher are not the same skills needed to perform other jobs in education well; managing children is a different skill from managing adults and while the type of person who can do one well may be able to do the other well, too, there's not necessarily a direct link. Thus, I think it's unreasonable to DEMAND that a system's CEO have been an excellent classroom teacher. I'm sorry you haven't been getting what you feel to be quality, differentiated PD. As a side note, sometimes I feel like just how the people who were bad at math in school make the best math teachers because they know how to struggle and work, sometimes "natural" teachers have a hard time conveying to others what they do well and how they do it.

@Anonymous: I feel as though teaching and administrator-ing are two very different skills. You say, "School administrators are better when they are educators"... but those two aren't exactly the same, and I think it's a false analogy to compare it to a statement like, "I'm a better reading teacher because I regularly read." A school system CEO isn't supposed to be teaching educators how to educate like a reading teacher teaches children how to read. So, can you expand on your idea a little more for clarification?

Rhee told Oprah's audience that Balt'm teachers were ineffective, but she failed to mention that when she was a Balt'm 3rd grade teacher she used corporal punishment to discipline her students.

At a recent teachers’ orientation, Chancellor 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 from the Washington Post of Rhee explaining the incident:

http://dcwtp.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/the-%E2%80%9Ccelebrated%E2%80%9D-chancellor-rhee-used-masking-tape-to-silence-her-3rd-graders-and-joked-about-it-to-dc-teachers/

Rhee told Oprah's audience that Balt'm teachers were ineffective, but she failed to mention that when she was a Balt'm 3rd grade teacher she used corporal punishment to discipline her students.

At a recent teachers’ orientation, Chancellor 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 from the Washington Post of Rhee explaining the incident:

http://dcwtp.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/the-%E2%80%9Ccelebrated%E2%80%9D-chancellor-rhee-used-masking-tape-to-silence-her-3rd-graders-and-joked-about-it-to-dc-teachers/

I was lucky enough to catch an advanced screening of Waiting for Superman last night, and while it definitely has an anti-union and pro-charters tilt to it, it covers very clearly many issues surrounding this complex problem. It's extremely powerful, emotional, and well done. For people who don't think about education like most folks here do on a daily basis, it's a must see.

I am disappointed in how much finger-pointing there is between all the people on this board who claim to be experienced educators. Can't you see that this bickering is what keeps education from going forward? Can't we recognize that all methods of teacher preparation have the potential to produce both excellent and mediocre teachers?

Those who stay in education often carry this chip on their shoulder toward those who leave the field. As a former teacher, I would divide teachers into three main groups: teachers who work hard but become frustrated with the profession and leave, teachers who stay in the profession but get by by lowering their standards, and successful teachers that stay in the profession. It takes a very special type of person to truly be a successful teacher and to handle the stress of teaching over the long-term. Anyone who can do that is exceptional, and the fact is, there simply aren't enough of those people to fill every school.

As a teacher, I cared deeply for my students, but I had to make a change. I simply couldn't live the brutal lifestyle any longer. I think we need to recognize what inner-city teachers go through. I don't think merit pay and a cutthroat culture are the answer.

I think a lot of what Alonso and Rhee have done has been good, but the one major thing that should be changed is the culture of fear that trickles down from the central office to the school administrators to the teachers.

It's pretty obvious that there are a lot of crummy teachers who can't be fired.

Why spend so much time whining about tangents such as her age, her race, her IQ, etc... when she's making an obvious argument that any decent teacher would agree with?

Reminds me of the unions response to the recent movie. Rather than address valid criticisms, the response is to whine about niceties.

The union should spend time addressing the criticisms of Rhee rather than to defend themselves at any cost.

It's pretty obvious that there are a lot of crummy teachers who can't be fired.

Why spend so much time whining about tangents such as her age, her race, her IQ, etc... when she's making an obvious argument that any decent teacher would agree with?

Reminds me of the unions response to the recent movie. Rather than address valid criticisms, the response is to whine about niceties.

The union should spend time addressing the criticisms of Rhee rather than to defend themselves at any cost.

Michelle Rhee is yet another politician more concerned with her "tough" image than with the actual welfare of students. Waiting for Superman is going to glorify her b.s. as much as it scapegoats teachers. Please read Diane Ravitch's The Death and Life of the American School System to get a reasoned, researched, non-simplified view of the real problems with education in our country.

I really like what Alan says above. I haven't heard it said so eloquently. Thank you, Alan.

Since the contract PR frenzy I know this issue dropped in popularity, but I encourage anyone still thinking about it to read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/opinion/30collins.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general